§56.  Compensation of board members and executive committee members

A.(1)  Members of all parish and city school boards are authorized to receive compensation not to exceed fifty dollars per day for every meeting of the school board.  School board members shall not be paid for more than one hundred forty-four days in any one year; provided that no member shall be compensated for more than twelve meetings per month, or, in lieu of such per diem, the school board may elect, by a vote of a majority of the elected members, to go on an expense allowance basis, in which event the maximum allowance shall be eight hundred dollars per month for each member of the school board and nine hundred dollars per month for the school board president.  Additionally, members of all parish and city school boards are authorized to receive the same mileage allowance as provided to state elected officials going to and from the meetings for every meeting of the school board as well as reimbursement for travel and related expenses outside the school board's jurisdictional boundaries on school board business.  Mileage shall be charged for each day of attendance at each session of the school board.  Prior to a meeting of the members of any school board at which the members vote on the method and amount of compensation or mileage to be paid such members, or to make any change therein, the school board shall advertise the time and place where the meeting is to be held in the official journal of the parish of the school board on at least two separate days during the fifteen days immediately preceding such meeting.  Any increase in compensation shall be approved by a vote of two-thirds of the total membership of the school board.  

 (2)  In the event that the school board elects to go on an expense allowance basis, a member who does not attend regular or special meetings, including committee meetings, of the board may be required to forfeit up to one-third of said expense allowance for each nonattendance without reasonable excuse, the amount of said forfeiture to be determined by the school board.  

B.  The members of the executive committees shall receive the same compensation as the members of the board while attending executive committee meetings, but they shall not receive compensation for attending more than one committee meeting in any one calendar month.  An executive committee member attending an executive committee meeting and a board meeting on the same day shall not receive compensation for the executive committee meeting.  

C.  Presidents of parish and city school boards shall receive the same compensation as board members while attending meetings of the board or executive committee and they may, in the discretion of the board, receive per diem for one additional day per month for discharging the duties of their office.  In addition to other compensation authorized herein the president of the board may also receive in addition to other compensation received, per diem for not more than two board related committee meetings per month, except as otherwise provided in this Part.  

D.  The compensation set forth in this Section shall not be changed by amendment to this Section, or by other Act regardless of whether it amends this Section, unless notice of intention to introduce the proposal has been published on two separate days without cost to the state in the official journal for the parish wherein the board is located.  If the proposal would change the compensation of all school board members in the state, publication shall also be made in the official journal of the state.  The last day of publication shall be at least thirty days prior to introduction of the bill.  The notice shall state the amount of the change, the bill shall contain a recital that the notice has been given, and certification of such publication shall be attached to the bill.  

E.  Any change proposed by a parish or city school board from compensation based on per diem basis to an expense allowance basis as is authorized in Subsection A hereof, shall be adopted only upon prior publication of such proposed change in the official journal of the parish on at least two separate occasions within a period of fifteen days preceding the meeting.  

Amended by Acts 1952, No. 536, §1; Acts 1956, No. 334, §1; Acts 1967, No. 57, §1; Acts 1972, No. 373, §1; Acts 1975, No. 647, §2; Acts 1976, No. 235, §1; Acts 1978, No. 220, §1; Acts 1979, No. 295, §2; Acts 1980, No. 526, §1; Acts 1980, No. 619, §1; Acts 1993, No. 936, §1, eff. June 25, 1993.

{{NOTE:  SECTION 4 OF ACTS 1980, NO. 619 (§1 OF WHICH AMENDED SUBSEC. A OF THIS SECTION) PROVIDED THAT:  "THE PROVISIONS OF R.S. 17:56(A) AS CONTAINED IN SECTION 1 OF THIS ACT SHALL SUPERCEDE THE PROVISIONS OF R.S. 17:56(A) AS CONTAINED IN SENATE BILL NO. 474 OF THE 1980 REGULAR SESSION ONLY AS TO THE VOTE NECESSARY TO INCREASE THE COMPENSATION OF SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS PROVIDED THAT SENATE BILL NO. 474 IS ENACTED INTO LAW."  SENATE BILL NO. 474 WAS ENACTED AS ACTS 1980, NO. 526.}}

{{NOTE:  SEE ACTS 1993, NO. 936, §2.}}