(a) The board of supervisors may allow, as compensation, to each member of the county board of education a sum not to exceed the following amounts:

(1) In any class one county, each member of the county board of education who actually attends all meetings held may receive as compensation for his or her services a sum not to exceed six hundred dollars ($600) per month.

(2) In any class two county, each member of the county board of education who actually attends all meetings held may receive as compensation for his or her services a sum not to exceed four hundred dollars ($400) per month.

(3) In any class three county, each member of the county board of education who actually attends all meetings held may receive as compensation for his or her services a sum not to exceed three hundred dollars ($300) per month.

(4) In any class four county, each member of the county board of education who actually attends all meetings held may receive as compensation for his or her services a sum not to exceed two hundred dollars ($200) per month.

(5) In any class five, class six, class seven, or class eight county, each member of the county board of education who actually attends all meetings held may receive as compensation for his or her services a sum not to exceed one hundred sixty dollars ($160) per month.

(b) Any member who does not attend all meetings held in any month may receive as compensation for his or her services an amount not greater than the maximum amount allowed by subdivision (a) divided by the number of meetings held, and multiplied by the number of meetings actually attended.

(c) The amount of compensation shall be determined by the county board of supervisors, or, in a county having a fiscally independent county board of education, by the county board of education.

(d) A member of a county board of education may be paid for any meeting for which he or she is absent if the board by resolution duly adopted and included within its minutes finds that at the time of the meeting he or she was performing services outside the meeting on behalf of the board, he or she was ill or on jury duty, or the absence was due to a hardship deemed acceptable by the board.

(e) There may also be allowed to each member who uses a privately owned automobile in the discharge of necessary official duties as a member of the county board of education, the same amount as allowed by any county official in the performance of his or her official duties. The mileage rate allowed in this section shall be based on the total mileage claimed in a calendar month.

(f) For purposes of this section, the classification of counties shall be determined pursuant to Section 1205.

(g) On an annual basis, the county board of education may increase the compensation of individual board members beyond the limits delineated in this section, in an amount not to exceed 5 percent based on the present monthly rate of compensation. Any increase made pursuant to this section shall be effective upon approval by the county board of education. This action may be rejected by a majority of the voters in that county voting in a referendum established for that purpose, as prescribed by Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 9100) of Division 9 of the Elections Code.

(Amended by Stats. 2006, Ch. 588, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2007.)