The Janesville School Board will vote on whether to pay their spring athletics coaches’ full salaries at its meeting Tuesday night.

School board member Kevin Murray brought the proposal forward after community members pointed out how most other area school districts are compensating their coaches even though the spring season was cancelled.

District officials said coaches who are teachers are being paid their normal salary, but they aren’t being paid their coaching salaries.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the district is sticking to a guiding principle of paying employees for the work they do, in an effort to remain fiscally responsible to taxpayers during difficult economic times.

Murray argues that coaches work year-round, serving as mentors to students and helping them develop off of the field.

The roughly $178,000 for spring coaches is already accounted for in the district’s 2020 budget, and Murray says paying them in full sends a message that the district values its coaches and supports athletics.

The school districts in Milton, Evansville, Edgerton, Clinton, Broadhead and Whitewater have all agreed to pay their spring coaches 100 percent of their contracts.