Double pay on Jordan board

Original Jordan board members get a $1,000 monthly stipend. They can also get paid for their work on either the newly formed east or west board.

Some board members are declining the double pay while others are accepting it.

"I can't afford to work on another board without having some sort of compensation. My time is valuable," said Randy Brinkerhoff, who serves on the original Jordan board and the west board.

The first east board meeting this summer was nine hours, plus a two-hour orientation for nonincumbent board members.

"We all put in hours and hours," Brinkerhoff said.

The monetary opportunity for serving on two boards will continue until Jordan District officially splits on July 1, 2009, and the original Jordan board dissolves.

The west board voted last month to accept all policies of the original Jordan District so their stipend is also $1,000 per month.

The east board hasn't voted on its stipend yet.

Choosing both stipends are board members J. Dale Christensen (west), Peggy Jo Kennett (west), Randy Brinkerhoff (west) and Kim Horiuchi (east), who is the weekend wire editor at the Deseret News.

Several board members said the law allows for compensation for their work on a board and so they will take it.

"It is only fair to be compensated," Kennett said.

Board members taking one stipend are Ellen Wallace (east), Tracy Cowdell (east) and Sherril Taylor (east).

Taylor said, "I want to see this new board get going, and they are going to need all the resources they can get. I don't want to take from it."

In 2007, legislation sponsored by Rep. John Dougall, R-American Fork, made it possible for school boards to set their own compensation — as do county commissions and city councils.

"If we can't trust the school boards to set their own compensation properly, how can we trust them with the education of our children?" Dougall said, in an interview with the Deseret News on Monday.

In July, 2007, Jordan board voted to increase its compensation 300 percent, going from $3,000 to $12,000 annually.

In November, east-side residents voted to leave Jordan District and form their own school district.

E-mail: astewart@desnews.com

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