New Elk Grove superintendent says raises for school board members are overdue

The Abridged version:

• Elk Grove Unified School District board members will vote Tuesday on whether to increase their own pay. This would be the first raise for the school board in decades but coincides with a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.
• The district’s new superintendent, David Reilly, defended the potential change as overdue.
• Reilly assumed the top position in January, following former Superintendent Christopher Hoffman’s 11-year tenure. He said he is prepared for challenges and opportunities, including Elk Grove’s continued enrollment growth.

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Elk Grove Unified has a reputation to uphold.

The school district, currently the fourth largest public school system in California, continues to grow. More students mean more funds but also more needs. And more questions of how to allocate resources.

This week, Elk Grove board members have the “unpleasant” decision of quadrupling their own pay. The raises would be the first increase for trustees in decades but coincide with a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.

Navigating these and other challenges (or opportunities) is David Reilly, the district’s new superintendent as of January.

Reilly follows the 11-year tenure of former Superintendent Christopher Hoffman. That precedent plus Reilly’s last decade in Elk Grove as associate superintendent give him a strong starting point, he said.

Poor optics, overdue pay

After a new state law raised the threshold for school board compensation, Elk Grove trustees are weighing a stipend increase from $750 to $3,000 a month.

Members described the raises as long overdue, in discussions at a board meeting earlier this month.

“I will poke a little bit at our EGEA friends,” said Trustee Michael Vargas, addressing the district’s teachers union. “If you guys hadn’t gotten a pay increase in 40 years, you guys would be apoplectic.”

In an interview with Abridged, Reilly also defended the move

“The challenge is going from the current amount to making up for lost time,” Reilly said. “The challenge is with the optics.”

“Some people might not agree with the decision,” he added. “But (the discussion) was done out in the open and everyone had an opportunity to voice their opinions.”

The board is expected to vote on the change Tuesday evening.

Growth expected to continue

The timing is particularly difficult, board members said, as the district confronts a $35 million deficit this school year, according to a December report.

Having enough resources and a balanced budget are obvious concerns for Reilly coming into the new role, he said.

But Elk Grove does have an advantage many other areas do not, which is its growth.

Much of a school district’s funding is tied to how many students are attending class there. While other localities, such as Sacramento City Unified or Davis Joint Unified, are seeing a drop in enrollment and therefore a drop in dollars, Elk Grove continues to attract new families.

A need for more schools

That growth is “lopsided,” though, according to Reilly.

Areas with more land for increasing development, including out east toward Rancho Cordova, are the hot spots. And, “as that fills in, they’re going to need schools,” Reilly said.

Elk Grove Unified has already been building, using money from voter-approved bond measures to fund construction. That includes Cypress Grove Elementary, which is set to open this summer in Rancho Cordova and serve grades TK-6.

Funding for any future facilities, Reilly said, would also likely appear on the ballot for district residents to decide.

“The school district has delivered in terms of a quality school system so people can see their investment coming to fruition,” Reilly said. “When that’s the case, they’re more likely to support future bond measures.”

‘Administration matters too’

With Elk Grove’s expansion comes the challenge of keeping standards and expectations up across the system, Reilly said.

“We’re really relying on people,” he said. That includes all levels and departments, from teachers to front office workers to bus drivers.

“But administration matters too,” Reilly said.

“A lot of times when budgets get tight … there’s many people out there who say, ‘Cut administrative salaries,'” he continued. “Well, administration matters as well, and we all play our role, just like a baseball team doesn’t have nine shortstops.”

Savannah Kuchar is a reporter covering education. She came to Sacramento to be a part of the Abridged team and contribute to a crucial local news source.