CAMPBELL – Teachers in the Campbell Union High School District voted overwhelmingly today to ratify a new, two-year contract that averts a strike and includes raises and a major victory on health benefits.
The teachers educate the 7,200 students in the district's six high schools – Boynton, Branham, Del Mar and Leigh in San Jose, Westmont in Campbell and Prospect High in Saratoga. The school board must now approve the contract, and is likely to do so.
The new contract covers the 2001-2003 school years and includes a 2.87 percent raise retroactive to Sept. 1, 2001. It increases starting salaries to $41,307 for beginning teachers and to $79,460 for veteran teachers with at least 32 years' experience and a master's degree.
The settlement's reinstatement of a "floating cap" regarding the amount of money the district will now spend on health benefits is a significant victory for educators already coping with the high costs of living in Silicon Valley. It was one major reason teachers had authorized their union to call a strike if an agreement could not be reached, said Rachelle Burnside, co-president of the teachers' union, the 300-member Campbell Education Association.
"The improvements on health benefits represent a major victory for teachers, who were fed up with having to pay so much of their own money for insurance," she said. "For this district to be able to recruit and retain teachers, it had to increase salaries and benefits. We are now on the way to making both more attractive."
She cited these examples of how the contract improves health benefits:
- A teacher looking at having to pay $2,832 for Kaiser family coverage in calendar 2004 will now have to pay nothing.
- A teacher facing $3,137 in out-of-pocket costs in 2004 for Blue Shield family coverage will not have to pay anything.
The district will also now provide domestic partner health coverage as of Jan. 1, 2004.
The settlement ends a 30-month bargaining battle and was nailed down after a 16-hour marathon negotiating session that ended early Saturday morning. It covers a period that expired as of Aug. 31 of this year, meaning that teachers will be going back to the bargaining table in about three weeks to start negotiations for a contract covering the 2003-2004 school year.
The Campbell Education Association is a chapter of CTA, which is affiliated with the 2.7 million-member National Education Association.