How much does your local school district pay its elected trustees for their service?
The answer has nothing to do with how well the students grasp reading, writing and arithmetic. In fact, an analysis by this newspaper of compensation and academic performance data found exactly the opposite.
Districts in the region that pay trustees the most in cash and benefits ranked lowest in student success rates, while districts that pay trustees nothing at all ranked the highest.
Only three of the 15 highest-achieving districts in the region that released compensation data paid their trustees. Those districts -- Palo Alto, Kentfield in Marin County and Cupertino -- averaged $28,716 to compensate their boards last year.
But 24 of the 25 lowest-ranking school districts -- including Oakland, West Contra Costa Unified and Ravenswood in East Palo Alto -- compensated their boards an average of $54,941 in 2012, data shows. Oakland topped all districts in the region, spending $167,348 on pay and benefits for its seven trustees.
Some education experts suggest there may be an underlying reason: Low-scoring districts like those in Richmond, East Palo Alto and on San Jose's east side that give trustees cash and health coverage serve low-income communities where schools have struggled historically and it is sometimes