By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Members of the Seminole County school board will see their annual salary of $36,000 increase by $1,647, thanks to a pay adjustment recommended by a state agency, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

That salary, raise included, works out to a $3,137.25 a month for each of Seminole’s five school board members.

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According to the board’s calendar, they will have 36 public meetings over the next six months. That means each board member receives $522.87 per meeting.

Is that ridiculous compensation for part-time employees? We certainly think so. School board members are supposed to be leaders who set an example for the rest of the district. How can they accept such absurd salaries, much less raises, while asking everyone else to accept less?

The “everyone else” category includes the district’s employee unions.  Many of their members protested the school board raises during Tuesday’s board meeting, demanding they be given raises, too.

This should leave Florida taxpayers very confused. Aren’t Florida’s schools supposed to be on the verge of financial ruin? Isn’t that why services for kids (namely class offerings and extracurricular activities) have been cut to the bone? Isn’t this why the school employee unions identified Florida Gov. Rick Scott as Public Enemy #1?

If so, then why is anybody demanding a pay raise, much less receiving one?

The well-guarded secret is that collective bargaining has turned Florida’s public education system into a financial gravy train for different groups of adults (apparently school board members included), and nobody wants to lose their first-class seat.

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That explains the bizarre scenario in Seminole County, in which a branch of the state government is recommending pay raises to school boards, while the unions picket in the streets. It’s like watching kids squabble over who gets the bigger piece of cake.

Maybe it’s time for the Florida taxpayers to derail the gravy train, and make public education about educating students instead of enriching adults.