OCEANSIDE — Hundreds of Oceanside teachers, who have worked for nearly a year and a half without a contract, are expected to rally Nov. 14 at Cesar Chavez Middle School for a new contract and pay raise.
But district officials said they can’t afford to give teachers raises due to a bleak financial outlook over the next few years.
Over the past few weeks, teachers have raised the stakes in their ongoing labor dispute with the school district, suspending voluntary activities — such as after-school clubs — in order to highlight the extra hours they work, and picketing outside of campuses.
On Nov. 14, officials with the Oceanside Teachers Association are hoping for 500 teachers to attend the rally before the board meeting, representing the 500 days the teachers have worked without a new contract.
“Our message is that we are united, and we believe that we should be respected with a new contract,” said Jennifer Skellett, president of the teachers’ union. “When we are talking about a budget crisis, we (teachers) are mission critical, and the district should definitely have budget for the teachers. We just want a fair contract.”
The Oceanside district serves 18,500 students at 23 schools and employs more than 2,000 teachers and other staff. The contract with the Oceanside Teachers Association expired July 1, 2016.
Skellett said that between 2016 and May, the district and teachers met at the bargaining table seven times.
Initially, teachers proposed a 3 percent increase, and after several months the district countered with a contract that included no raises.
They have since exchanged proposals and counter proposals, with teachers awaiting the latest district counter proposal, Skellett said.
Teachers pointed to the fact that the district’s most recent unaudited budget showed a $27 million carry-over balance from the most recent school year, up from the $21 million that the school district anticipated in May.
“The district said if there was money over we will talk later,” Skellett said. “In our minds there is money left over, so let’s have the conversation is what we’ve said.”
District officials said the surplus could be wiped in two years, as the district is projecting revenue shortfalls in the millions.
This year’s budget projects $203 million in revenue, with $216 million in spending. The 2018-19 school year is expected to see revenue rise to $209 million and spending to $220 million.
School officials said they are looking for the teachers’ union to make concessions so any increases are cost neutral.
In other words, if they agree on pay raises, some cuts elsewhere would have to take place to cancel out the increase. District officials said they are looking at potentially capping health benefits packages, which are among the county’s richest.
Both Skellett and school officials said both sides are still actively negotiating a compromise, and haven’t reached the point where an impasse would be declared.
“The district is currently in good faith contract negotiations with the Oceanside Teachers Association,” district spokeswoman Lisa Contreras said in a statement. “When a labor agreement expires, the existing contract continues to remain while parties negotiate a new agreement.”
5 comments
To throw down a few numbers, does everyone realize that the total cost for pay and benefits at OUSD has risen at a rate of 7% per year since 2012 (the last year before EPA funds were available from Prop 30), which far outstrips the national average rate of increase of 1.96% – for “the rest of us”?
Does everyone realize that if that number had simply been held down to just “double” the national average, the OUSD budget would have another $13.4 Million in it to spend on “other things that make education better”?
My analysis of the budget numbers is at http://www.toddmaddison.com/ousdpay2017 in case anyone wants the full details or wants to check the numbers. I suggest starting with the OUSD Pay and Benefits Summary document.
Is anyone going to go to the 11/29 District Parent Advisory Committee meeting or future board meetings to make their opinions known?
Why not?
Of the 2,000 employees, 900 are teachers. The rest of the employees do other jobs. Yes, taxes pay for judges, police, firefighters, prison guards, prosecutors, and teachers. They all help keep society in order. That’s how it works. Don’t like it? Try a 3rd world country- with poor schools, dirt roads, no law enforcement and lots of corruption. You will pay little in taxes and you will get very little in return.
If we have 2000 teachers in Oside making an average of $75K per year, that’s over $150,000,000.00 in annual salary. If the teachers are asking for a 3% increase in pay, that costs the tax payers $4,500,000.00 more per year.
Ever heard of robbing Peter to Pay Paul?
The problem with giving in to a union is the rest of the labor market doesn’t have a same or similar union to fight for them, especially for part timers working in the service industry. Some people work 2-3 jobs in this part of SoCal; not many of them ever see a 3% cost of living increase.
To the Teachers:
If you’re going to continue voting for your own selfish interests as a mob of teachers, the least you could do is fight for DIRECT DEMOCRACY and the enforcement of ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY in California.
Democracy is a compromise, not a threshold.
Teachers shouldn’t have to beg for their pay and benefits.
Nobody should… “have to beg for their pay and benefits.” Under dictatorship everyone begs; under democracy everyone votes for their own interests.
DIRECT DEMOCRACY is the only way to combat the dictatorship of capitalism. Ask the mob of teachers fighting the mob of politicians.
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