School Boards
The size of the Los Angeles Unified School District--the second largest public school system in the nation--makes it dominate attitudes about public education, even among persons involved in other school systems. There is a feeling: “If it is happening in Los Angeles, it must be happening everywhere!” But this is not true.
It is definitely not true regarding pay to school boards members. Although school board members often devote 10 or more hours a week to their responsibilities to students and the public--a quarter-time job--many of school board members receive no pay at all. Whether the members of the Board of Education of the Los Angeles Unified School District deserve an increase in pay should be an issue that concerns only those who live or teach within that school system; the actions taken on this issue in Los Angeles should not reflect upon school board members in other school districts.
Most children in California attend schools in districts that have less than 50,000 students.Many districts have less than 5,000 students. What happens in Los Angeles makes news; but what happens there might also be an exception, not a rule.
DAVID E. ROSS
Agoura
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