CARLSBAD –
Picketing in front of Aviara Oaks Elementary School in Carlsbad yesterday morning, Jeff Foster said teachers deserve a pay raise and the district should be able to afford it.
Foster, a second-grade teacher at Aviara, was among dozens of teachers who picketed three elementary schools yesterday to protest rocky contract negotiations between the Carlsbad Unified School District and its teachers. The others were Pacific Rim and Kelly schools.
Negotiations for the 2006-07 school year began Jan. 24. The conflict boils down to teachers wanting a 5.9 percent raise, effective to last July 1, while the district is offering 1 percent.
July 1, teachers received a 1 percent raise. The total increase that teachers want for the 2006-07 school year, therefore, is 6.9 percent.
The district considers its offer as 2 percent for 2006-07. “We will continue to work with our teachers,” said Torrie Norton, assistant superintendent for personnel and chief negotiator for the district. “We understand their concerns, and we are doing everything we possibly can at this point to identify potential dollars that can be applied to the salary schedule.”
Teacher pay in Carlsbad Unified ranges from $36,909 for a beginner to $80,171 for someone with 24 years' experience, a master's degree and additional training.
Of San Diego County's 42 public school districts, only eight – including Carlsbad – have not yet settled contract negotiations with teacher unions, said Patti Bailey, a staff consultant with the Carlsbad Unified Teachers Association.
The average raise this year for public school teachers in the county is 5.62 percent, Bailey said. Last week, the Encinitas Union School District settled on 5.78 percent, and Coronado Unified School District settled on 6 percent. Carlsbad teachers argue their district should be able to afford a raise much more substantial than what it's offering. The reason: the district received $5.32 million in additional revenues from the state this year – an increase of 8.62 percent over 2005-06.
“The (district) increase was 8.62 percent from the state, and they offered us 1 percent?” said Foster, the teacher at Aviara. “What's that?”
All but about $377,000 is already budgeted or otherwise earmarked, district administrators have said.
Paying for the 5.9 percent raise – on top of the 1 percent in July 1 – would cost the district $2.2 million. Each percentage point of a teacher raise costs the district $371,269, Norton said.
The district is examining how it might shift money from various departments to the pool available for teacher salaries.
“We're identifying which funds are encumbered and where we can make cuts,” Norton said. “It's difficult to make midyear cuts.”
The district has had trouble detailing how it spent the extra $5.32 million from the state. Walter Freeman, assistant superintendent of business services, said he and his staff are close to completing a budget analysis. The district has hired School Services of California Inc., a statewide consultant for public school districts, to review the findings.
For 2005-06, Carlsbad teachers received a 3 percent raise. After the 1 percent raise July 1, Carlsbad teachers received a 1.3 percent boost in October. That increase in take-home pay arose from savings in health insurance after the district and teachers union restructured insurance plans.
Even with those increases in pay, teachers say compensation falls below county averages. For 2005-06, teachers around the county received a 4 percent raise on average, Bailey said.
Negotiations are scheduled to continue today, tomorrow and Wednesday. “If they don't come back with a decent settlement, this is not going to be pretty,” said Laura Bowen, president of the Carlsbad Unified Teachers Association.
“Right now it's just picketing. Hopefully the district will treat us with dignity and respect.”
Bruce Lieberman: (760) 476-8205; bruce.lieberman@uniontrib.com
