The Associated Chino Teachers (ACT) declared an impasse in contract negotiations with the Chino Valley Unified School District after talks stalled on Thursday.
The school district and ACT have been negotiating since April 2023, with ACT requesting a fair wage increase, improved health and welfare benefits, resources for special education programs including reduced class size and more prep time, and caseload/prep time support for speech-language pathologists.
Teachers have provided documentation showing their salaries are $10,000 to $30,000 less than surrounding school districts.
“The school board and our superintendent are literally driving teachers away and making it very hard to attract new educators,” ACT President Brenda Walker said in a press release issued Thursday afternoon. “The things we’re asking for: better salaries, lower special education class sizes and more support, are important and will benefit all Chino Valley students and the community.”
Impasse is a point during negotiations at which the parties’ differences on pending issues are so substantial that future meetings would be futile, according to a school district update issued Thursday by the Division of Human Resources.
“Once this occurs, either party may declare that an impasse exists and initiate the process for appointing a mediator,” according to the udpate.
The Public Employment Relations Board will assign a mediator in an attempt to broker a settlement, states the update.
The mediator is a state employee who works with the school employer and the employee organization to seek a resolution.
School Board President Sonja Shaw said the California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) indicated that the state is facing a daunting $73 billion deficit. “A declining-enrollment school district like ours does not receive the full cost-of-living adjustment (COLA),” Mrs. Shaw said. “The COLA for the 2023-24 school year was 8.22 percent, while our district only received 5.44 percent in new money.”
Mrs. Shaw said the union’s demands included a 10.25 percent salary increase, 0.97 percent additional health and welfare benefits, and other stipends and salary increases that brought it to an 11.65 percent increase.
“Despite these challenges, our district remains committed to negotiating in good faith and providing the best education for our students while supporting our teachers and staff,” Mrs. Shaw said.
According to a press release issued by the California School Boards Association on Dec. 1, 2023, the LAO unveiled the state’s latest budget numbers, painting a sobering picture for state finances and education funding.
The Association’s executive director Vernon M. Billy said in the press release that the state is potentially entering into year-over-year budget deficits and while some belt tightening is required, “it can’t come at the expense of public schools that are facing enormous challenges in the areas of learning recovery, student health and well-being, staffing shortage, school safety, facilities, and the expiration of one-time COVID relief funds.”
Ms. Walker said the impasse was declared out of frustration over the lack of respect Chino teachers are experiencing from a school board and administration that can afford to pay its educators fairly but refuses to adequately compensate them or improve staffing and support for special education programs.
“Nobody wants to see Chino become a revolving door for teachers who come and then leave because they are undervalued,” Ms. Walker said. “We hope a mediator can help move the district off its unreasonable position, and ultimately avoid a teacher strike. Nobody wants a strike, but our members will do what is necessary to get a fair agreement.”
(1) comment
"“The school board and our superintendent are literally driving teachers away and making it very hard to attract new educators,” ACT President Brenda Walker said in a press release issued Thursday afternoon."
Has the district provided actual data from job openings (in, say, the last year) telling us how many fully-qualified applicants they get per job opening? I've looked at that data for other districts and typically find school districts get more qualified applicants than private industry does per opening.
Has the district provided data showing how many teachers have left the district in the last year for higher pay elsewhere? This data is usually obtained from exit interviews, and is a critical part of private organizations' efforts to find out why people leave and fixing those issues. I've asked for that data from other districts, and have never found a district that even collects it.
Fundamentally, given the union is asking the district to use $20-30 million that it could use to improve the education of kids instead to give to adults, to solve a problem (attraction and retention), one would think the district and board would demand actual data validating such a problem exists and quantifying the size of that problem.
At least that is what would happen in any responsible organization thinking about spending millions that could be used to improve it's services for customers instead on improving the bank accounts of employees....
Can we expect that to happen here, or is it all about anecdotal stories?
It would be good if those questions were asked, perhaps something for our reporters to do?
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