Sometimes, hindsight is a great teacher.
Such is the case with the current School District 43 board of education, which made what it thought was a reasonable decision in June 2012 to bring trustees' salaries in line with those of elected city councillors in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody.
Their decision was made based on a presumably sincere belief that their responsibilities and workload were similar to those of city councillors. They are not, but that's another editorial.
It wasn't long after that decision, however, that the SD43's massive deficit was discovered and we now know that when that decision was made, the board was in the dark about the district's financial difficulties. The effect of that policy was that trustees got two hefty pay increases while teachers and support workers were laid off.
In hindsight, that pay raise was too generous. We'd like to think that nobody in public office does their duty solely for the pay and, with that in mind, candidates now running for trustee should be campaigning to reverse the pay hikes as a sign they are sincere about making sure the district keeps its financial house in order.
