On Tuesday evening, district administrators saw a wave of over three hundred members from the Moreno Valley Educators Association (MVEA) march into the District Board room carrying signs and wearing red to remind Moreno Valley Unified School District (MVUSD) of their promise to attract and retain great educators to serve our students in every school site. 

MVEA has become increasingly frustrated at the negotiating table as MVUSD negotiators have continued to make offers that are less than competitive with the surrounding districts. With California currently facing a 50,000-teacher shortage, substandard offers do little to move the needle in a district where comparative analysis shows MVEA educators’ compensation near the bottom.  

That ranking places MVUSD in the bottom 15% of school districts in the area; a ranking that may sink further as surrounding districts reach agreements on salary. 

“MVEA is here tonight as a Red Storm to share our frustration with you. Members of our School Board have shared that our educators are the best in CA, yet we are ranked among the worst paid in our local area in compensation.” 

–Chris Farias, MVEA President

For MVEA, having the resources to meet the diverse needs of every child in the school district is paramount; “We have great educators that ‘go beyond’ for their students every day,” Bargaining Chair Suzanne Berkey commented. “They shouldn’t have to accept less while doing more.”