San Diego school teachers will receive a significant pay raise under a tentative labor agreement with the San Diego Unified School District. KPBS Reporter Ana Tintocalis has more.
Teachers will get a five-point-seven percent pay hike over the next two years. That means first-year teachers will get an extra two-thousand dollars a year, and veteran teachers will get four-thousand. Teacher health benefits will also be fully covered. Union leader Dick Gale says the deal is a positive step forward, but he says there’s still a long way to go.
Gale: We didn’t fall to this level that we’ve fallen to in one year. It’s taken some time for us to get down there. So it’s going to take a multi-year effort. You know, at this point we’re just striving to be average.
Gale says San Diego teacher salaries still rank at the bottom compared to county and state educators. Local teachers scored a victory last year when the district agreed to a three-point-five percent pay increase. Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.
