Modesto City Schools trustees have voted to nearly quadruple their own pay, boosting their monthly stipend from $765 to $3,000. The move - a jump to the new legal maximum - landed right in the middle of tense contract talks with local teachers and immediately drew fire from staff who say the timing could not be worse.
Board vote and immediate details
The Board of Education approved the raise at its Tuesday night meeting, raising trustees' monthly compensation to the highest level now allowed under state law. The increase, along with district officials' note that trustee pay had not changed in roughly 40 years, was reported by CBS Sacramento. The item was listed on the public agenda and is now part of the official meeting record.
What the new state law does
The pay hike rests on AB 1390, a recently approved law that rewrote the Education Code limits on school board stipends and raised the cap across enrollment ranges. Under AB 1390, districts with prior year average daily attendance between 25,000 and 60,000 - a group that includes Modesto City Schools - can now pay trustees up to $3,000 a month, according to California Legislative Information. The bill was chaptered in October 2025 and is the statutory basis many school boards are now using to justify higher stipends.
Teachers and staff push back
Teachers and some board members did not hide their frustration. Cindy Marks, one of two trustees who opposed the increase, argued that approving the raise while the Modesto Teachers Association is still without a negotiated contract "pours salt in the wound," as quoted by CBS Sacramento. District employee Armando Arviso told reporters that educators are still waiting on better pay and reliable benefits while negotiations remain unsettled.
Other districts have made similar moves
Modesto is not an outlier. Since AB 1390 took effect, other districts have moved quickly to tap the new ceiling on trustee compensation. Stockton Unified, for example, tripled its trustees' monthly pay to $3,000 in January, a decision that also drew pointed comments from employees and community members, according to The Stockton Record. Across the region, school boards are wrestling with both the optics and the policy argument for higher pay in elected oversight roles.
What comes next in Modesto
The board's decision is almost certain to hang over ongoing contract talks with the Modesto Teachers Association, which district communications show have been active this year. Modesto City Schools posts bargaining updates, board agendas and meeting videos on its website, signaling that the issue will stay in public view as negotiations continue, per Modesto City Schools. Union leaders and staff representatives are expected to press the district for movement at upcoming bargaining sessions.
For parents and taxpayers, the vote sharpens a familiar debate: whether higher trustee stipends help attract and retain qualified board members or deepen mistrust when classroom pay and benefits are still on the bargaining table. With no labor agreement yet in place, the fallout from Tuesday's decision could shape both local politics and contract talks well into the fall.
