UPDATE: 5:30 p.m.: Strike cost district more than $200,000
The San Ysidro teachers strike is over, but the school district’s serious money woes continue.
The district is fifth on a list of seven schools the California Department of Education has given a “Negative Certification” — a sign that the state doesn’t expect the district to be able to pay its bills. It has a declining enrollment and a $2.6 million deficit.
Now, the three-day strike has cost the district more than $200,000, officials estimated. About $105,000 went to pay 140 substitute teachers. They made $250 a day to cross the picket line. Normally, they are paid $120 a day.
Students staying home also cost the district more than $100,000, officials said. The district receives $47 a day from the state for each student who attends class. During the strike, an average of 50 percent of the students didn’t go to school over the three days.
The district also paid $22,000 for security during the strike.
George Cameron, the district’s interim superintendent, said the high “level of emotion” that the strike caused in the community was unexpected.
“It did not play into our ultimate decision with the teachers union. What really drove the agreement is the recognition that as a school district we’re in financial crisis,” Cameron said.
Lora Duzyk, assistant superintendent of business services for the San Diego County Office of Education, is working as a special financial adviser to the San Ysidro district. She wants the district to focus now on improving its low student attendance.
“They have a couple of things they need to do now,” Duzyk said. “Get back to the business of teaching and learning, and work on their average daily attendance so that they can maximize the attendance, because that’s how they are paid. They're paid on their attendance.”
One thing that will help accomplish that is in the new contract: part-time kindergarten moves to full time on Nov. 1. The district loses students to district’s that already have full-day kindergarten classes, and they rarely return.
Teachers said they recognize that the district has money problems, but they believe those are largely because of mismanagement by past administrators and the school board. The teachers didn’t want their compensation to be the way the district solved its funding issues.
That said, most teachers were happy to return to the classroom Monday — especially with a new three-year contract.
“Teachers are literally tripping over each other running back to work!” Ray Lozada, a seventh grade teacher at Willow Elementary School, texted KPBS in the morning.
UPDATE: 7:35 a.m.: San Ysidro teachers ratify deal by majority vote
San Ysidro teachers voted 144-25 to approve the new contract, according to 10News reporter Jared Aarons.
Teachers returned to class Monday.
The three-year contract included a 1 percent raise this school year, a raise of 1 percent for the previous school year to be paid to teachers in one lump sum and a raise of 1 percent for the 2015-2016 school year.
The agreement keeps the cost of medical benefits the same as it was previously. Teachers wanted it lowered. It also implements a full-day kindergarten program.
Original post:
The San Ysidro teachers strike that began six days ago appears to be ending, with a tentative agreement reached early Monday morning with the school district.
The San Ysidro Education Association reported on its Facebook page Monday morning that it had reached a deal with the San Ysidro School District after a marathon negotiation session.
“After a 14hr day...we have a signed TA!” the union wrote. “Ratification vote will take place tomorrow morning @ 6:45am in the SYMS Multipurpose Room. SYEA Members check your email for details.”
School board member Luciana Corrales confirmed that a tentative agreement had been reached with the union but said that both sides agreed to keep the details of the agreement confidential until the union had a chance to inform its members.
It was also not confirmed if the teachers would be back in their classrooms Monday.
Teachers have been on strike since Wednesday morning, after negotiations broke down after more than a year of ongoing talks. All schools have remained open with substitute teachers.
On Friday, teachers gathered outside district headquarters, which is located across from San Ysidro Middle School. Joined by parents and students, the group of protesters then moved inside the headquarters and demanded to speak to officials.
Teachers have been asking for their first pay raise in seven years, along with better health benefits. The district countered that a projected budget deficit will not allow that to happen.
Last Tuesday, the teacher's union reportedly rejected a proposal that would have raised their salaries by 2 percent this year and 1.54 percent in each of the following two years, the U-T newspaper reported.
San Ysidro is one of San Diego County's smaller districts with about 4,800 students and more than 200 teachers.
The district has cited declining enrollment and a $2.6 million deficit as the root of the problem.
A fact-finding report released last month stated that district officials needed to reduce overall costs — including teacher salaries — by 8 percent "to get back to a sound financial footing." However, the report said that a 2 percent salary reduction would suffice.
"The key issue to this impasse is the financial ability of the district," officials noted in the report. "Complicating communications between the association and the district is the association's belief that the district misrepresents its financial position each year."
Union members countered that the district was left with more money than expected following the last academic year.
"The district clearly has the ability to pay the status quo and also has the ability to increase employee compensation," union members wrote in a dissenting opinion that accompanied the report. "To put it into perspective, a 1 percent increase to the salary schedule is only $181,000."
The union blames mismanagement. The former superintendent, Manuel Paul, pleaded guilty in August to extracting political contributions from a prospective contractor by threatening to withhold work on future building contracts. He was still getting paid long after he resigned. Paul is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
