The Orange County Board of Education voted last night to reduce the compensation of Orange Superintendent of Schools Al Mijares, lowering his base pay from $364,895 to $300,000 a year.
Mijares total compensation package – which includes a $12,000 annual car allowance and benefit package – will be lowered from $467,000 to $425,000.
The office of the OC Superintendent of School is an elected office, and state law prohibits changing the compensation of elected officials in mid-term. The new base pay level will take effect for the OC superintendent’s takes effect for the 2022-2026 term.
Board has been looking at adjusting the superintendent’s compensation over the last several meetings.
The OC Board of Education and the OC Superintendent of schools have a interesting structural relationship. Together, they constitute the OC Department of Education. The superintendent runs the department, while the board approves the department’s budget, and also hears appeals on matters such as charter applications, inter-district transfers and expulsions.
Mijares and the OCBE majority are frequently at odds, and those conflicts have sometimes wound up in court. In example, the Board fought back against Mijares’ insistence that the Board be represented by the OC Department of Education’s in-house lawyer. The Board objected that in the department’s counsel could not represent two parties that were battling each other, saying that violated basic legal ethics.
Under the state constitution, the board has the power to set the superintendent’s compensation.
The board resolution authorizing the compensation reduction included a list of state constitutional offices, such as Governor, with pay levels significantly below Mijares’. Trustee Beckie Gomez, who is frequently at odds with that list and noted the large compensation packages enjoyed by the superintendents of school districts such the Irvine Unified School District and the Los Angeles Unifed School District.
A key distinction is those schools districts operate dozens – or in the case of LAUSD, more than a thousand – school sites.
“As elected trustees, we have an obligation not only to the voters of Orange County, but also the
students, to direct resources to the classroom where they belong. We promised voters we would
exercise fiscal responsibility where appropriate while retaining our board rights to properly be
able to represent our constituents, and this Resolution does just that,” said Trustee Dr. Lisa
Sparks in a press release issued by the OCBE.
The vote was 4-1: Trustees Sparks, Ken Williams, Tim Shaw and Mari Barke voting in favor, and Trustee Becky Gomez opposed.
