Teachers in the new Turlock Unified School District overwhelmingly chose CTA to represent them in collective bargaining.
CTA already represented 500 elementary and junior high educators, and will now represent the high school district's 220 educators as well. Turlock voters in November approved the merger of the two districts, which is official as of July 1. Existing contracts will be honored until a new one is negotiated.
The mailed-ballot vote, announced June 9, was 357 to 170 for CTA. Teachers rejected the bid by the California Federation of Teachers to represent the merged district.
"We are very happy to now have 720 voices speaking to the new school district," said Marsha Memmott, president of the existing Turlock Teachers Association. "Teachers clearly want the resources that CTA can offer. We will immediately start forming a bargaining committee and will survey our members about their contract priorities."