A study was conducted to determine the costs associated with the board of trustees of California's community college districts during the 1985-86 academic year. Questionnaires were mailed to the chief executive officer at each district, requesting information on the total district budget, fees or salaries paid to trustees, insurance costs, funding for conference attendance and travel to meetings, costs of employees assigned to trustees, amount spent on the election of trustees, and collective bargaining reimbursement. Survey findings, based on responses from 67 of 70 districts, included the following: (1) 52.5% of the districts had 7-member boards, and 47.8% had 5-member boards; (2) 28.4% of the districts paid their trustees no salary; (3) the 67 districts paid a total of $712,000 to their trustees in 1985-86, with the average board receiving $10,627; (4) the districts paid a total of $526,000 in trustees' conference expenses; (5) the total amount spent for secretarial and other support for trustees was $795,000; (6) the total amount spent for trustee elections from January 1, 1980 through the 1985-86 academic year was $15,804,000; (7) the total amount spent on collective bargaining during the same period was $11,335,000; and (8) board elections and contract negotiations made up over 50% of the total trustee-related expenses of the districts. (AAC)