The Scotts Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees approved a one-time 4 percent bonus retroactive to the 2007-08 school year for teachers, staff, administrators and personnel in the district.

“This board was very straightforward: Every penny we have in leftovers needs to go back out,” said Allison Niday, school board president.

The bonus totals $300,024 for teachers and an additional $116,978 for support personnel, administrative and management employees, including district Superintendent Susan Silver.

“I think it was a 3½-minute conversation (between board members),” Niday said. “Let’s give it all.”

The school board voted 4-0, with Sue Roth absent, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, to ratify the bonus that came more than four months after the conclusion of the 2007-08 school year.

During the scheduled comment time, members of the public continued to be critical of Silver and called for the board to take a second look at Silver’s bonus in wake of her “satisfactory” rating by the district.

“It’s a good time to lead by example,” said Don Dietrich, a school board candidate who said the administration is getting too big a cut of the bonus.

Based on her 2007-08 salary of $136,000, Silver would receive a bonus of $5,440.

Board member Joe Espinola explained that Silver’s contract allows her a pay raise based on raises given to other district employees or if the board votes to give her a raise based on performance.

The teachers ratified the 4 percent bonus earlier this  month, and classified employees asked for the same bonus, Niday said. 

Espinola said the reason the negotiation took as long as it did was because the bonus could not be given until the school’s budget went through its final audit.

“We’re never going to know, until the books are closed, how much money is left,” Niday said.