The newly elected school trustees in the fall election will be greeted with an indemnity increase.
Following past precedent, the finance committee of the Central Okanagan Board of Education has recommended approval of an increase in the stipend received for trustees, board vice-chair and the board chair based on a recent BC Consumer Price Index of .7 per cent for the period from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022.
The new indemnity stipends for the 2022-23 fiscal year will be $21,802 for trustees; $23,026 for vice-chair and $24,886 for chair.
School board Chair Moyra Baxter told the committee that individual school boards follow their own policies in how to arrive at indemnity increases.
Baxter said what Central Okanagan trustees receive probably falls in the middle of the stipend scale across B.C. school districts.
“We are not the highest or the lowest. But we also realize that our trustees don’t receive any benefits such as health coverage.”
The board of education is expected to vote on the committee recommendation for the indemnity increases at the next board meeting on April 27.
READ MORE: Kelowna has second-longest clinic wait times in Canada