WINONA, Minn. –The Winona School Board approved an annual stipend increase of $300 each — to $1,800 for the chair and $1,500 for other members. The vote was 5-2. The raise will be the first in 10 years. Altogether the increase will cost an additional $2,260 a year. Board members acknowledged the awkwardness of voting to increase their own pay, but those who voted in favor said they didn’t want the lack of pay to stand in the way of someone from running for the board.
Verbatim
Steve Schild, board member: “This little bit of extra money might pay the babysitting for a committee assignment. There might be someone out there who would very much like to become involved in this very important role that this group has. If this little amount of money would make that easier for one person to do it, then I think it’s a good thing, not only for that one individual, but for the community and for the kind of representation that we could get from somebody from whom we might not otherwise hear.”
2021 stipends
Rochester, $7,200 a year
Albert Lea, $3,600
Mankato, $3,400
Owatonna, $3,400
Faribault, $3,300
Northfield, $3,300
Red Wing, $3,000
Zumbrota-Mazeppa, $2,500
Stewartville, $2,200
Wabasha-Kellogg, 1,600
Dover-Eyota, $1,350
Cannon Falls, $1,250
Winona $1,200
St. Charles, $1,196
Lanesboro, $1,000
Rushford-Peterson $800
Lewiston-Altura, $780
Goodhue, $720
Caledonia, $600
Kasson-Mantorville, $12
How they voted
To increase stipend
> Nancy Denzer, chair (at large)
> Stephanie Smith (District 3. East Side)
> Karl Sonneman (at large)
> Tina Lehnertz (District 5, Minnesota City)
> Steve Schild (District 1, West End and bluffs)
Against
> Michael Hanratty (District 2, West Side)
> Jim Schul (District 4, south rural)