Disputes arise from School Board Trustee pay hike

PRINCE GEORGE – The Prince George and District Teachers Association is calling out a decision by the Prince George School board to raise trustee pay by 28% starting in the fall. School District 57 trustees voted 5-to-1 at their last public meeting to approve a major 28 per cent pay hike for the board’s next term, drawing immediate fire from local union leaders. Currently Trustees make a base salary of $23,430 which will increase to $30,000, Vice-Chair will see a salary increase from $26,950 to $34,500 and the Board Chair will go from $30,460 to $39,000. Prince George Teachers’ Association President Katherine Trepanier says that the raise is inappropriate and further more a violation of board policy 1.70.

“This does not follow their own policy which basically states that any raises for trustees need to follow, what exempt staff receive in the district and the exempt staff in the district received about 3%. This is far beyond that. The board did their own research on what other trustees across the province were receiving and they found that in Prince George they were on the mid to lower range for communities of the same size. To me, that doesn’t indicate a huge need to increase by 28%.” said Trepanier.

SD57 board chair Craig Brennan says all policies were followed and the raise was a key part to showing prospective trustees that their time is valuable if they run as a trustee, because the district wants voices from across the community to represent students at the board table.

“When the motion was passed in May to improve trustee remuneration it was within the scope of the work and it does fall right in with the policy. Policy 1.70 doesn’t preclude anything like this, as we’re taking a greater look than just the an annual check in for the consumer price index or those sorts of indicators. This is the broader look. I think it’s important to recognize that this remuneration bump will take place after the election. It will be coming out October the 17th of this year. So it won’t actually impact this board at all. It will impact folks that want to run in the next election.” said Brennan.