Pay Grab Frenzy Hits California Schools

A man in a suit delivering a speech at a podium with microphones

A new California law just helped one local school board nearly quadruple its own pay while teachers and taxpayers watched in disbelief.

Story Snapshot

California’s AB 1390 lets school boards boost monthly pay by up to five times based on district size.
Modesto City Schools board voted to jump trustee pay from $765 to as high as $3,000 a month.
Teachers and taxpayers blasted the move as a “questionable priority” during budget pressure and layoffs.
The Modesto fight is part of a growing pattern of California boards racing to the new legal maximum.

Newsom’s Law Opens the Door to Big School Board Raises

Assembly Bill 1390, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2025, sharply raised the legal cap on pay for school district board members across California. The law boosted maximum monthly compensation by about five times, with exact limits based on average daily student attendance. For districts with between 25,001 and 60,000 students, the ceiling jumped from $750 per month to $3,000 per month, a huge increase locked into state code. Supporters said the change was needed to keep up with inflation and growing board duties, but critics warned it would tempt local boards to put their own stipends ahead of classrooms and taxpayers.

Legal analysis of the bill confirmed the new tiered pay limits, showing top districts could now pay as much as $7,500 per month to trustees, and mid-size districts like Modesto could go to $3,000. The California School Boards Association backed the measure, arguing that higher stipends would attract “a wider range” of people to run for these posts. Yet there was no requirement that boards prove financial need or show how new responsibilities justified the jump, only that raises be approved in a public meeting. That left local voters to police priorities once the law took effect.

Modesto Board Moves Toward the New Maximum

The Modesto City Schools Board of Trustees recently voted to boost its own compensation from $765 per month to a planned $3,000 per month, nearly quadrupling what members receive for serving. Reports show the board initially set pay at $1,500 a month for the next school year, then scheduled a second step to $3,000 by 2027–2028. District size data places Modesto in the 25,001–60,000 attendance band, meaning AB 1390’s new ceiling of $3,000 applies there. From a legal standpoint, that means the raise fits under the updated law. From a common sense standpoint, many locals say the move shows the board’s priorities are badly off.

Local coverage and state commentary stress that the nearly threefold increase is not tied to any clear public record of new duties or longer hours for trustees. The law talks generally about expanded responsibilities over the past 40 years, but Modesto’s board has not released detailed workload data to explain why its current $765 stipend no longer works. At the same time, separate district documents show teacher pay proposals in the low single digits, such as a 2.25% raise offer for certificated staff. The contrast between modest raises for front-line employees and a planned 293% jump for board members has fueled anger among parents, teachers, and taxpayers.

Teachers and Taxpayers Call It a Misplaced Priority

During the meeting where the Modesto board took up the raise, members of the Modesto Teachers Association, school workers, and residents lined up to object. One teachers group representative summed up the mood with a simple warning: “Just because you can raise something to the max, doesn’t mean you should.” That comment cut to the heart of the debate. AB 1390 makes the raise legal, but it does not make it wise. Critics say the board is hiding behind Newsom’s law to justify a pay grab in a time of financial strain and program cuts.

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Taxpayer advocates have echoed that concern. A spokesperson for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association called similar board raises a “questionable priority” at a time when school district budgets are under pressure. In Elk Grove, trustees approved fourfold raises while also voting for layoffs, drawing outrage that the board cashed in as employees lost jobs. San Diego-area boards have pushed their stipends up 300–400% while workers fumed over deficits. These examples show a pattern: once Sacramento raised the cap, several boards raced straight to the top number, even as teachers and staff faced cuts.

Statewide Trend Raises Bigger Questions About Local Control

Modesto is not alone. Fresno Unified trustees recently voted to double their salaries under AB 1390, and could now earn up to $7,500 per month in larger districts. Elk Grove’s board moved from $750 to $3,000 per month, and San Diego districts such as Cajon and Oceanside have also adopted huge increases. Each case followed the same script: use the new law to push stipends to the legal ceiling, then face a wave of public anger from people who feel the money should go to classrooms instead of politicians. That pattern worries many conservatives who already distrust one-party rule in Sacramento.

For readers who care about local control, limited government, and responsible spending, the Modesto fight is a warning sign. When state lawmakers in the capital rewrite pay rules, local boards can quietly profit while claiming, “the law lets us do it.” Without hard requirements for transparency on workload, fiscal capacity, or tradeoffs with teacher pay, the burden falls on parents and taxpayers to show up, speak out, and vote. AB 1390 may be framed as modernizing compensation, but the way boards like Modesto are using it looks a lot more like government putting itself first and families last.