School board votes themselves a raise

According to the Journal, the APS school board's finance committee voted in favor (3-2), of raising their "per diem" by 27%.

The almost 30% raise is probably justifiable; the per diem has been fixed since 1990.

The argument for a reasonable compensation for the sacrifices made by board members parallels the discussion of the proposed pay raise for city counselors. Basically, if you expect talented people to serve is these capacities; you should expect to pay them fairly.

Otherwise you end up with a policy making board made up of members of the privileged class; those who can afford to donate their time "for free". It skews the overall philosophy of the board or council.

On the other side of the argument, you have those who believe their representative is not earning their current compensation; much less increased compensation.

In this case, it could be argued that Paula Maes/Modrall, Robert Lucero, et al, should not only be refused their raise, but should be fined for;

• their abdication as role models of the student standard of conduct;
• their failure to provide transparency in the administration of the public interests in the public schools;
• their movement of the public forum off of the public record, and the effective denial of the public right to petition their government;
  
• the deliberate falsification of the broadcast record of board meetings;
• their failure to protect the public interests in the public schools by providing no system under which APS administrators or board members can be held accountable for their conduct and competence as public servants;
• their squandering of public trust and treasure in paying the Modrall Law Firm to litigate against the public interest;
• their dissolution of parent advisory councils; and
• their recent passage of a comparatively meaningless, and completely unenforceable code of ethics as the only standard of conduct to which they are accountable.

...just to name a few.