Opinion: L.A. deserves a school board of adequately compensated members

To the editor: My late husband, George Kiriyama, served on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education from 1995 to 1999. He and his colleagues were paid $18,000 annually. (“Hold your outrage — the LAUSD board deserves a big raise,” editorial, July 12)

I was in adult education, where teachers reached the hourly top pay in three steps and never received pay raises along with the K-12 teachers. Furthermore, we were not allowed to work full time. With no other income source, George, the primary earner in our household, sacrificed our financial security in order to serve on the board.

Some people have said the board members should not receive any pay at all, citing examples of uncompensated public servants in other cities. This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Such a move would make serving possible only for the wealthy.

With the hours and demands of the job, school board members deserve — and need — to be compensated, but I would cap their pay at no more than the highest teacher’s pay (around $100,000) or the lowest principal’s pay.

Iku Kiriyama, Torrance

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To the editor: So, board members put in hard work day in and day out and therefore deserve an obscene salary increase of 174%.

They should try teaching.

Betty Watkins, Studio City

The writer is a retired teacher.

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