The South Washington County Schools Board of Education voted Thursday night to give themselves a 75 percent pay raise.

The five-member board voted 4-1 to approve an increase in school board member compensation to $10,000 per year; board member Simi Patnaik was the lone dissenter.

Board members had previously been compensated $5,700 per year in the district, which includes all or parts of the communities of Cottage Grove, Newport, St. Paul Park, Woodbury, as well as Afton, Denmark and Grey Cloud Island Townships.

From 2002 to 2017, school board member compensation was at $4,800 per year. In 2017, it was increased to $5,400; it has been set at $5,700 since 2018.

Compensation for school board members in the metro area varies from $1,900 to $22,000 per year, according to district staff.

The five largest school districts in the state provide this annual compensation to school board members: Anoka-Hennepin, $14,400; St. Paul (as of 2019), $18,000; Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan, $9,000; Minneapolis, $20,000 and Osseo, $15,000.

School board members in Rochester, the seventh-largest school district in the state, are paid $16,000 a year.

The South Washington County School District is the sixth-largest school district in Minnesota and serves about 18,700 students. It has 16 elementary schools, four middle schools, three high schools, and two non-traditional high schools.

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