WATSONVILLE — More than 100 teachers gathered in Watsonville Plaza Friday afternoon for a rally that capped a week of actions meant to draw attention to ongoing contract negotiations between them and Pajaro Valley Unified School District.
The teachers on Dec. 11 declared an impasse in negotiations for the 2016-17 school year, after the district rejected the latest offer by the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers.
Specifically, PVFT is asking for an ongoing $4,408 salary increase, which would be retroactive to the 2016-17 school year. The union is also asking for an 8 percent increase for early childhood and adult education teachers, also retroactive to last year.
PVUSD has offered a 2 percent raise for teachers, which would be possible by modifying teacher health benefits. Specifically, by raising copays for doctor visits from $10 to $20, and by switching to generic prescription drugs. That raise would become effective only upon ratification.
The district has also offered all teachers a one-time payment of $3,200.
In addition, the district’s offer includes a 6 percent increase for both Early Childhood Education teachers and Adult Education teachers. The offer also includes a roving teacher stipend, and places nurses on the same salary schedule as psychologists.
The district has repeatedly insisted that the $4,408 raise is not possible.
PVUSD Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez said it would immediately cost $12 million, and would put the district in the red within three years.
In fact, giving the raise only to teachers would cost around $7 million. But because the district agreed to a “me too” clause for its classified workers represented by California School Employees Association, the total would nearly double when applied to them.
The $3,200 offer, Rodriguez said, would cost $10 million, which is 20 percent of the district’s ending fund balance.
Those numbers have been corroborated by former Chief Business Officer Melody Canady and current Interim CBO Ron Forston, Rodriguez said.
The district’s numbers have also been approved by the Santa Cruz County Office of Education and by WestEd, an independent educational research company. In addition, they have been reviewed by School Services of California, which among other things conducts fiscal reviews for school districts, Rodriguez said.
PVFT has not responded to a district request to bring in its own financial review company, Rodriguez said.
“We have said to the union and we say to everyone, ‘help us find in the budget where we can afford it,’” Rodriguez said. “Nobody has been able to show me how they can afford what they are requesting.”
The teachers’ union, meanwhile, has said that the district historically understates its ending fund balance, and then clings to its reserves instead of offering them as raises to teachers.
PVFT has also accused the district of skewing its budgetary priorities.
Most recently, the PVUSD Board of Trustees approved hiring a public information officer, who will make about $100,000 per year.
“A budget is a set of priorities,” PVFT negotiator Sarah Henne said. “If they were serious about working with teachers they wouldn’t be adding positions like that.”
Sherri Osterland, who teaches sixth-grade English and social studies at Pajaro Middle School, said she was one of nine new teachers when she started last year. This year, she said, eight new ones started.
She attributed the high turnover to low teacher pay, which she said has forced her to cut corners in her own life. This includes taking a second job for three nights a week.
This, she said, leaves her exhausted.
“I think everything would be better if I could focus on my job,” she said.
Mintie White first-grade teacher Lillian Berla said that teachers have accepted measures such as cuts and furloughs during financially lean years. But the district currently has a surplus, she said.
“Right now there is no reason to take cuts,” she said. “The district should show us support. We teach the kids every day, and we deserve better.”
Watsonville High School math teacher Pablo Barrick said that teachers serve many roles in their jobs, including counselors, facilitators and court reporters.
“This is about the students,” he said of the rally. “The most efficient way to get money to the kids is through the teachers, because they are at the front.”
