MARSHALL — The Marshall School Board will be looking at a proposal to change board members’ pay structure. At a work session on Monday, board members discussed the possibility of going from a $50 monthly salary, to a $3,000 annual salary that would be split up over 12 months.

The board didn’t act on the proposal during the work session. Instead, the proposal will need to come back before the board at a regular meeting.

Possibly changing the way school board members are paid for their service was something that had been discussed by the board’s executive committee, said MPS Superintendent Jeremy Williams. Currently, the school board chairman receives a $75 monthly salary, and other board members receive a $50 monthly salary. Board members can also claim additional compensation – like a $50 per diem or mileage – for participating in other meetings or events as a school board member. Board members had to regularly submit claims for their monthly salary and per diems.

The amount of pay board members received in recent years varied depending on the amount of regular and committee meetings they were participating in, district staff said. In 2023, the average pay for board members was about $1,887. In 2022, the average was $2,300, and in 2021 the average was about $2,445.

MPS also compared its board member pay with other school districts of similar size, but pay rates varied a lot, district staff said.

An option for updating board member pay was to simplify the process, by having an annual stipend split up over 12 months. The proposal the board discussed would have a $3,300 per year stipend for the board chairman, and a $3,000 per year stipend for other board members. If passed by the board, the proposal would go into effect starting July 1, 2024.

The idea of switching to a per-year salary instead of filing monthly claims got some positive feedback from board members.

“I appreciate the simplicity of it,” said board member Sara Brink.

“I think the salary piece would help clear things up,” said board member Bill Swope.

Williams said the proposal would have to be put on the agenda of a future school board meeting before the board could act on it.