Are Wisconsin’s Politicians Paid Too Much?

At its meeting on April 26, 2022, the Milwaukee Board of School Directors raised its salary by 4.7%, the same percentage as it gave to other employees. The board salaries are now set at $18,667. This was the first increase in 22 years.

In a May 15 Op Ed for Urban Milwaukee, attorney Dan Adams questioned whether the Milwaukee school board members should receive a salary increase given how poor student achievement is in the district.

Pay for Wisconsin school board members varies greatly. In some districts, board members might get $50 or less per meeting. However, some school districts have but a single school, not like Milwaukee with 150. Milwaukee board members are quick to point out that just visiting every school in Milwaukee is difficult to do even over their four years in elected office. Board and committee meetings can take from 10 to 20 hours per month. But ad hoc meetings can add to the board members’ time, not to mention the volumes of documents that must be analyzed every month.

Milwaukee board members used to get lifetime health insurance if they served at least eight years, but that was cut to only the years in office in 2001. The last board member to be grandfathered for full insurance was Larry O’Neil who left the board in 2005. Smaller districts are not likely to receive any health insurance. No board members in the state receive a pension.

Board members believe they cannot be held fully accountable for every aspect of student achievement because the district faces challenges of racism and poverty that they have little control over. It’s safe to say Milwaukee school board members do not agree with Adams’ assessment.

Adams is not alone in criticizing the pay for elected officials. GOP candidate for governor, Kevin Nicholson, wants to cut state legislators’ time and pay stating that they really don’t do the legislative job full time anyway.

In fact, Wisconsin has the smallest population of any state with a full-time legislature. Only a half dozen states pay their state legislators more than Wisconsin. The base pay for a Wisconsin legislator is $55,141 per year plus per diem expense payments that averaged about $3,000 in 2020.

The salary schedule for legislators versus school board members is upside down in Florida when compared to Wisconsin. Florida school board members are paid according to the number of students in the countywide districts. In Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties that means $47,189 per year.

In January, the Florida Legislature proposed cutting the salaries of school board members to $29,607, the same amount paid to the members of the part-time Legislature. Ultimately, the effort failed.

A report in 2011 by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) shows on how various states have approached legislative compensation. In some states, pay raises are taken entirely out of the hands of legislators. When other employees get pay raises, so do legislators. Other states tie the pay to the cost of living or the median household income. 19 states have compensation commissions to provide recommendations, but usually the Legislature still must authorize those recommendations.

Compared to other states, Wisconsin may be seen as overpaying its elected legislators or an enlightened state that sees the value of having a professional legislative body.

In a 2015 story for Politico, “Should we pay politicians more?”, Kevin Hartnett cites the example of Singapore where the prime minister is paid just under two million dollars a year. Other officials are as highly compensated as they would be in the private sector. This is seen as a anti-corruption measure and an effort to attract the most talented employees. However, Hartnett is referring mostly to political appointees, not elected officials.

In a 2013 research study, T. Renee Bowan and Cecilia Hyunjung Mo found a positive correlation between how much elected officials were paid and the willingness for individuals to become candidates.

However, in 2014, Emir Kamenica, along with colleagues from several universities, discovered that increased pay had a downside.

They identified two types of elected officials. One group were idealists who truly believed in what they were doing. Pay had less to do with their run for political office. However, being paid enough might have an impact on whether less wealthy candidates could run for office. But a second group was more motivated by money and power. The more money they could make being elected to office, the more likely this group would run for office.

I must disclose that I was a Milwaukee school board member for 12 years. During my time on the board, no increase in board pay took place. From my perspective, the compensation that board members received had little impact in their desire to hold public office. I can remember only one board member stating that he could not support a particular policy because it would hurt his chances of being elected. (He lost the next election anyway.) Board members seemed driven by the hard ideological clashes affecting board politics right into the early 21st century rather than financial compensation.

Most Milwaukee school board members who run for reelection are retirees. Board members with young children rarely stay on the board beyond a single four-year term. In my last election in 2015, I ran with no opposition. That was true for several of my colleagues. Higher pay might make the races more competitive and change the composition of the board.

Even with the new level of pay, school board members still earn less than Milwaukee County Supervisors. In 2014, the state legislature gave the voters of Milwaukee County the ability to vote on a referendum to cut county supervisor pay in half, from $50,679 to $24,051.

Rep. Joe Sanfelippo (R-West Allis) was quoted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel saying, “There just isn’t enough work for a supervisor to sit in an office eight hours a day.” The referendum passed overwhelmingly, 71% to 29%, and the job of supervisor became a part-time position.

Whether that improved the effectiveness of Milwaukee County government is in the eyes of the beholder. It did change the board, with several members leaving to run for Milwaukee city aldermanic districts where they could receive higher salaries.

The truth is that pay for public officials is literally all over the map in America. We can probably all agree that if compensation for elected office is too low, good candidates may lack the economic means or face too great a burden to run for political office. The public may find fewer choices on the ballot. And if compensation is too high, the costs are higher for taxpayers and candidates more motivated by money and power than public service may run for public office. There is probably a sweet spot between the two extremes, but no one seems to know that that is.