School board members at dozens of California districts have voted to increase their own pay by thousands of dollars per year after a 2025 law raised trustee compensation limits for the first time in 41 years.

In the first six months of the year, Elk Grove Unified School District trustees raised their monthly stipends by 500% to $4,500. Trustees in the Beverly Hills, Oceanside, Orange, Carlsbad, Escondido and Antioch school districts increased their pay by 400%.

Effective this year, Assembly Bill 1390, raised the cap on board stipends to between $600 and $4,500 a month, depending on student enrollment. Previously, school district trustees could earn between $60 and $1,500 monthly stipends for their service, in what are typically considered part-time jobs. The law also allows school boards to increase their stipend 5% annually, even if it reaches beyond the maximum rate.

Trustees for county offices of education can also increase their pay up to five times their previous wage, with salaries for board members in counties with more than 750,000 students capped at $3,000.

Rationale for New State Maximums

The new state maximums are meant to compensate board members adequately for the hours they spend on the job and to expand the candidate pool for school board seats. But the pay hikes have raised some eyebrows, especially in school districts struggling to bridge budget deficits.

Rocio Galvan, president of the Elk Grove chapter of the California School Employees Association, said she opposed the pay raise, which gives each Elk Grove Unified trustee a $54,000 annual salary, because it exceeds what many of the district’s classified employees earn.

“I specifically said to them that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should,” Galvan said.

Trustees in many districts also receive health insurance benefits that can cost districts far more than the monthly stipend.

In making the case for his bill, Assemblymember José Luis Solache Jr., D-Lynwood, argued that the increase was necessary to pay board members fairly and to make it feasible for all members of the community to run for school board, which often attracts retirees or individuals with higher incomes.

An Assembly analysis of the bill referenced a 2024 EdSource article, which found that 56% of 1,510 school board races across 49 California counties did not appear on a local ballot that year. Those races either had one unopposed candidate who became a guaranteed winner or drew no candidates at all.

It’s a Tough Job

The role of a school board trustee also has evolved considerably in the last decade, said Scott Borba, executive director of the Small School Districts’ Association.

“Trustees today oversee significant public resources while making decisions related to student achievement, fiscal oversight, facilities, labor relations and increasingly complex state and federal requirements,” Borba said.

The growing time commitment has become the main reason people don’t run for the job, he said. Raising compensation, Borba said, could entice nontraditional candidates such as “working parents, younger professionals, or others who otherwise couldn’t afford the time commitment.”

In most cases, the increases in the stipend are relatively modest in relation to the importance of the job, said Troy Flint, spokesman for the California School Boards Association, which supported the legislation.

“I know it’s fashionable to dismiss the work of school boards and to note that they’re volunteers, but if you take the job seriously and perform it to the fullest extent, it’s easily a full-time job,” Flint said.

Some Pay Remains the Same

It is unclear how many California school boards have increased their pay since legislators increased the cap on their stipends. At least three dozen districts have raised trustee stipends, so far, according to an analysis of local news reports and interviews with several school district officials.

Of the state’s five largest districts, trustees in Elk Grove Unified and Fresno Unified voted to pay themselves the maximum allowed for districts with more than 60,000 students — $4,500 a month.

As of July 21, the boards of San Diego Unified and Long Beach Unified had not increased their salaries. Long Beach pays each board member $1,500 a month and San Diego Unified pays its trustees $1,914 per month, according to the districts.

Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest school district, with 389,000 students, operates under a local charter and is not affected by the legislation. A separate LAUSD Compensation Review Committee determines the salaries of board members, who are considered full-time workers.

As of July 2025, LAUSD school board members were paid $52,000 a year if they have other jobs and $130,000 if they have no other source of income, according to LAist. Their salaries increase 1% a year through July 2027.

Some school districts with the largest increases started with relatively low stipends. Beverly Hills Unified had a 400% increase in trustee pay, from $240 to $1,200 a month. Oceanside Unified, Carlsbad Unified, Orange Unified, Antioch Unified and Escondido Union school districts all increased their stipends from $400 to $2,000 a month, according to news reports.

Elk Grove Trustees Get 500% Raises

Trustees on the Elk Grove Unified school board voted Feb. 17 to increase their stipend from $750 to $3,000 a month, with an increase to $4,500 a month on July 1. They also voted to increase the maximum number of compensated missed meetings from two to three.

At the February meeting, union leaders acknowledged the school board’s hard work, but questioned the amount of the raise and the timing. The vote for the stipend increase took place at the same meeting in which it was announced that 31 classified positions would be cut because the funding for the positions had ended.

The district board increased the stipends as it was grappling with a $34 million deficit and faced projected deficits in the next two years, according to a December financial report.

“If the board were to increase their compensation, it would be more reasonable to do it at a time when we are more secure in our budget,” James Sutter, then-president of the Elk Grove Education Association, told board members at the Feb. 17 meeting.

The pay hike will increase the total cost of board compensation for the district from $63,000 a year to $378,000 annually, which does not include the health insurance board members are eligible to receive.

Should Raises Be Based on Enrollment Growth?

School board President Beth Albiani voted against the raises at the February meeting and proposed the stipend be increased incrementally based on enrollment growth, instead. The board would earn the maximum amount only if student enrollment exceeds 70,000, she said.

A majority of board members voted for both increases, with some saying they are necessary so that more people can afford to run for school board.

Albiani declined an interview with EdSource, but provided information about the scope of work performed by district trustees. Along with preparing and attending board meetings, trustees attend educational classes and conferences, sit on committees, meet with district staff and answer communications from the community, Albiani said.  Board members try to visit each of the district’s 68 schools each year, and attend high school graduations and awards ceremonies, Albiani said.

“The end of the year is a very busy time with weeks where you can have up to four nights each week spent at a school,” Albiani said in a statement. “Our jobs have grown through the years and are very self-guided, but through our shared experiences and agreed-upon board goals we are working to lead our district to successfully graduate college, career and life ready students.”

Not All Fresno Trustees Take the Raise

Fresno Unified school board members voted Jan. 14 to approve a revision of their bylaws that more than doubled their monthly pay from $2,111 to the state maximum of $4,500. Board members also receive health insurance.

The increase came as the district faced a deficit of $77 million, with a projected $59 million deficit in the coming school year.

Fresno trustee Andy Levine voted against the raise his fellow school board members passed, although he agrees that an increase in board pay was long overdue.

“I think my preference would have been to do it a little later on when we have, hopefully, a more stable budget situation, and we’re not having to make the decisions we’re having to make in this moment,” Levine said.

Fresno Unified school employees, union and community members have since expressed consternation at the 113% pay raise, according to The Fresno Bee.

Levine has opted out of the pay increase, as has board member Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, a district spokesperson told EdSource.

Some Boards Get Automatic Raises

Trustees in Roseville City School District, which serves 12,700 students in Placer County near Sacramento, had their pay increase automatically from $400 a month to $2,000 after Jan. 1.

Board member Jonathan Zachreson said the board’s bylaws allow trustees to receive the state maximum without a vote. However, there are regular public reviews of district board policies, including for the one that allows the automatic raise, he said.

The pay hike will increase the total cost of board compensation for the district from $24,000 to $120,000 annually.

“I know that there’s been some conflict and controversy (in other districts), but generally, what I’ve seen is that it seems generally to go unnoticed or without a lot of attention,” Zachreson said of the pay hikes.

Pleasanton Board Voted Against Increase

Not every school board has voted to increase their pay. A committee of Pleasanton Unified School District board members opted not to move forward with a proposal to increase their stipends from $463 to $2,000 a month after hearing from community members who opposed the plan.

Board President Kelly Mokashi recommended the proposal. She said the workload of school board members — roughly 15 to 20 hours per week on top of a day job, she estimates — demands a higher wage.

Mokashi said she didn’t run for the position for the money, but that, as a single mother, the pay increase could help her to remain in the community, something she is fearful she may soon not be able to afford to do.

“It’s not a voluntary position. It’s an elected position,” Mokashi said. “There’s quite a bit of responsibility that a trustee has managing the school district.”