About CTA

April 2013 - Burlingame Education Association members ratified a three-year contract agreement that provides a retroactive 2 percent salary increase, a 1 percent one-time payment and improvements in what the district will pay for medical benefits. Teachers have had no raises for a number of years.

The agreement also includes a new teacher evaluation system for educators in the Burlingame Elementary School District. It was created by a joint group of teachers and administrators and updates an antiquated process.

BEA President Mike Giusti called the agreement reasonable. Read more here.

April 2013 - Just as tensions began escalating over a threat by the superintendent to impose a 3.5 percent salary cut on the Denair Unified Teachers Association in Stanislaus County, the district’s school board abruptly fired the administrator in mid-March, creating a whole new ball game for the bargaining team.

The 75-member San Joaquin Valley chapter had been at odds with the superintendent, whose financial mismanagement they say resulted in a negative state certification for the district.

While acknowledging the difficult financial situation, Denair teachers are adamant that any cuts be made as far away from the classroom as possible, or at least that there be an agreement to repay teachers later.

April 2013 - As Lodi Education Association President Jeff Johnston predicted in November, the passage of Prop. 30 helped restore five instructional days to teachers. There are still 2½ non-instructional days and a 2 percent salary cut LEA bargainers hope to restore when the contract is reopened. In the meantime, Johnston says, “We are all waiting to see what will happen with the governor’s budget proposal,” since Lodi is a district that will benefit from the proposed new funding formula, which will provide additional monies to schools of need.

April 2013 - Fed up after five years of no raises, teachers who do challenging classroom work for the San Mateo County Office of Education voted March 18 to allow their CTA chapter leaders to call a strike if necessary to settle their difficult negotiations.

The strike authorization vote came after a March 6 county school board meeting in Redwood City, where San Mateo County Educators Association members addressed the board and staged a rally. Teachers are upset by the indifference they get from the school board and County Superintendent of Schools Anne Campbell in contract talks, says Dan Deasy, president of the 150-member chapter.

“This school board is clearly not respecting the difficult work we do,” Deasy says.
Educators with the San Mateo County Office of Education work in special education programs for students with severe disabilities, court and community schools for 2,000 at-risk students, and teach Regional Occupational Program (ROP) career technical courses for 5,000 high school students and adults.

Read news coverage of the strike vote here.

April 2013 - The Ocean View Teachers Association’s tentative agreement with Ocean View School District, located in Huntington Beach, is a result of OVTA’s ongoing rallies at the district office and other organizing efforts, including a flashlight vigil. The district, which has had five different superintendents in the last nine months, realized the bargaining team had strong support from OVTA members, parents, and community members.

OVTA’s bargaining team was able to reach a compromise settlement of two furlough days scheduled to be taken May 24 and 28.

“I think it's the very best settlement that we can get under the circumstances at this time,” says OVTA President Marcy Drum. Members are expected to ratify the agreement. Bargaining resumes in May for the 2013-14 contract year.

April 2013 - “Our students are tired of trying to learn in overcrowded classrooms, and teachers are fed up with making financial sacrifices for a district that does not respect our dedication,” says Brannin Dorsey, president of the 1,600-member Fremont Unified District Teachers Association (FUDTA). “Enough is enough. Students and educators deserve better treatment than this — especially from a district with reserves like they have.”

With that statement, the teachers union declared a bargaining impasse and mobilized for a lively March 13 protest at the school board meeting.

One year of negotiations has gone nowhere in this financially sound district, which is hoarding money at a level about five times the reserves required by the state.

FUDTA members are seeking a class size maximum of 24 students for grades K-3 and a staffing ratio of 27:1 for grades 7-12. The district is offering maximums of 29 in kindergarten classes and 30 for grades 1-3, and no relief for all other grades. In Fremont, class sizes are now capped at 30 for K-6 classrooms, but for middle and high schools the cap is actually only a “goal” of 30, on average. The goal is 12 for special education students, but the district wants to raise that. High school classes routinely reach 35 students or more. Teachers have filed scores of grievances to lower class sizes.

The 32,000-student Fremont Unified has about $30 million in reserves. Educators have taken 12 unpaid furlough days since 2009 — a pay cut of about $7.2 million. In contract talks, FUDTA is seeking a 2 percent raise on the salary schedule and a one-time 1 percent payment, and some relief for the cost of dental benefits. The district is offering a 1 percent salary increase and a one-time bonus payment of 1.75 percent, and no relief for the escalating cost of health care.
Read news coverage of the March 13 Fremont protest here.

March 14, 2013 - Members of the Alameda Education Association overwhelmingly approved a new contract providing their first raises in five years and protections against class sizes rising in K-3 grades. Highlights of the contract include:

• Compensation that totals a 4.5 percent salary increase over two years and the potential for more in 2014-15. A total of 2.5 percent of the raise for this school year will be retroactive to July 1, 2012. If the school board determines the district can provide an additional 1.75 percent raise, it will kick in for the 2014-15 school year. If not, salary negotiations will reopen.
• Peace of mind for the Alameda community with a settled calendar through 2015-16.
• Maintaining smaller class sizes (a ratio of 25 students/teacher in K-3) for the life of Measure A parcel tax.

At left: Millbrae Educators stand together as contract talks continue

March 2013: No improvements to salary or benefit levels for six years prompted the 110-member Millbrae Education Association (MEA) to file for impasse on Feb. 8. Educators are seeking fully paid health and dental benefits for single employees and a 3 percent raise. The district is only offering a 2 percent raise and wants to restrict a post-retirement benefit that helps defray some health coverage costs.

Teacher retention is a concern, says Trish Althaus, MEA’s bargaining chair. “There will be no incentive to stay here.”

Teachers took 4 percent pay cuts each of the last two school years. MEA members voted down a tentative agreement reached last summer, and contract talks continued. Read more

March 2013 - The St. Helena Teachers Association in Sonoma County added an extra student instruction day in a Feb. 4 agreement. Teachers will get a 2.34 percent raise and an additional pay step at the top end of the salary schedule.

At left: Educators and community members at Feb. 26 rally at Alameda City Hall helped bring about settlement

Feb. 2013: ALAMEDA – After more than 10 months of frustrating negotiations, the bargaining team of the Alameda Education Association (AEA) reached a tentative agreement on Feb. 28 with the Alameda Unified School District.

Leaders of the 524-member AEA signed off on the agreement at about 9:30 p.m. and will now submit it to all teachers in the district for a ratification vote.  Details are not being released until AEA members have a chance to review them and vote. Read more

Feb. 2013: “We are restoring our school year back to 185 days,” says Karl Kildow, Visalia Unified Teachers Association president. Teachers get back three “no pay” days and get two lump payments to reflect 1.65 percent in salary restorations.

Feb. 2013: The St. Helena Teachers Association in Napa County added an extra student instruction day in a Feb. 4 agreement. Teachers will get a 2.34 percent raise and an additional pay step at the top end of the salary schedule.

Feb. 2013: “We simply could not open the door to letting the district weaken the rights of our members to have fair, impartial hearings when disciplinary action is taken against them,” says San Ysidro Education Association President Carol Wallace, “and now, our persistence has paid off with new language that makes those protections stronger.”

Due process language, plus class size and instruction days, led to an impasse last October. SYEA organizing efforts impelled the district back to the table, where an all-day session resulted in the tentative agreement members ratified.

The new contract includes language establishing just cause for discipline and strengthens grievance language, modest class size increases in grades K-3 and five furlough or “no pay” days.

Feb. 2013: Five different superintendents — one lasting only four days — have whirled through the Huntington Beach district like a “revolving door” in the last eight months, creating uncertainty and instability. Now contract talks are bogged down over cutting four school days and the district’s refusal to pick up minimal health insurance costs amounting to less than what was paid last year.

“If fiscal necessity really impels cutting additional student instruction days, then how can the district justify recent unnecessary expenses, including the employment of a superfluous director of communications at a salary equivalent to the cost of one furlough day?” asks OVTA President Marcy Drum.

Feb. 2013: Nevada Joint Union High School Teachers Association members in Grass Valley, Nevada County, have a teacher retirement one-time incentive for this school year with two options: Educators can accept $40,000 toward health benefits for five to seven years, or two years of retirement service credit with CalSTRS.

Feb. 2013: Hacienda-La Puente Teachers Association’s new contract calls for a 1 percent salary increase effective Feb. 1, a $1,000 ongoing increase in the district’s contribution to health benefit costs, and a one-time $450 total contribution toward health benefits for the rest of this school year.

At left: Rachel McCauley (MPEA), Cindy Morici (MPEA), Janette Perla (ETA)

Jan. 2013: Collaboration works in the classroom and on the picket lines, educators in two adjacent San Jose school districts are learning as they help each other organize to win difficult contract fights. They faced furlough days, health benefit cuts and the loss of teacher prep time — and the same divisive lawyer at their bargaining tables, hired by both districts to fast-track their agendas.

“Thankfully, we are not in this fight alone,” says fourth-grade teacher Lisa Kattenhorn, president of the 136-member Mt. Pleasant Education Association (MPEA). “Our colleagues in surrounding districts are appalled that our district is still asking for take-aways at the bargaining table.” The solidarity strategy is working. Read more

At left: Ramona TA members at a school board meeting

Jan. 2013: Teachers negotiating in Ramona Unified School District, San Diego County, are outraged, and for good reason.

School officials continue to seek the equivalent of 27 percent in combined, one-time salary cuts over three years for educators, or massive health benefit cuts — and a raft of other unnecessary concessions. The district has five times more in budget reserves than recommended by the state.

Salary schedules would be restored after three years to prior levels, after the financial carnage was done.  Read more