WATSONVILLE — Pajaro Valley Unified School District officials offered teachers a one-time payment of $3,200 in lieu of a raise, as contract negotiations resumed Thursday.
The district’s classified employees – represented by California School Employees Association Local 132 – ratified a similar offer in September.
The Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers did not make a counter-offer at the negotiations table, but union president Francisco Rodriguez said Friday that the offer falls short of the salary increase for which certificated employees have been demanding.
Both sides will return to the table on Oct. 18, Nov. 1 and Dec. 6.
In addition to the payment, the $5.7 million package offered by the district includes a $1,612 stipend for teachers who teach a class requiring bilingual certification, and for roving teachers.
There are no changes to teachers’ benefits in the offer, but the issue will likely come back to the bargaining table.
Teachers will also receive contractual step-and-column increases.
The offer did not sit well with PVFT.
“Our membership has given us a clear directive that we need a raise on the salary schedule,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez pointed to the district’s $57 million ending fund balance for the previous school year, which union officials have said is proof the district can afford a raise.
Included in that sum, Rodriguez said, is a three percent reserve – which he said is roughly $7 million – which could fund a salary increase for two years.
He also pointed to the district’s recent decisions to hire a public information officer and pay for software licenses, and to a recent proposal to increase compensation for assistant superintendents. All of these add ongoing costs to the district’s budget, he said.
“In the meantime we continue to have a very healthy reserve, and there is no commitment to offer a raise on the salary schedule,” Rodriguez said. “The district can afford an ongoing raise, but it’s a matter of budget priorities.”
District officials, meanwhile, have said that the ending fund balance came largely thanks to a line-by-line scrutiny of the budget and “zero-based” budgeting, which allowed the district to reduce its deficit from $19.3 million in March to $1.6 million in September. As such, the balance is made up mostly of one-time monies.
In addition, the district is currently deficit spending, Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez said.
The district this year is also faced with increased contributions to teachers’ retirement plans, and an average 7.5 percent increase in their health benefits, said PVUSD Director of Finance Helen Bellonzi.
Michelle Rodriguez said that, if the district agreed to an ongoing raise for teachers, it would not pass muster with the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, which by law gives final approval on school districts’ budgets.
“They have said in writing that they will not approve anything on the salary schedule unless we make other cuts,” she said.
That could mean slashing such items as the district’s college and career center or a $3 million dry rot repair at Aptos High School, she said.
Michelle Rodriguez pointed out that the one-time payments for teachers and classified employees will cost the district $10 million, which will come off the ending fund balance.
She said the fact that a raise is not on the table is not a sign of disrespect for the teachers.
“We care about our teachers, we value our teachers, but we also have to make sure the district is fiscally solvent, and we have to have the support of the county,” she said.
“We feel that in one year taking $10 million off our ending fund balance is a significant demonstration that we do value our staff,” she added.
PVFT negotiator Sarah Henne said that offering a salary increase would attract qualified and credentialed teachers to work in the district.
Currently, more than 30 positions are filled with teachers that are not fully credentialed, Henne said.
“We know we need to attract fully credentialed teachers,” she said. “Our students deserve that.”
