Classified staff including bus drivers and yard duties for the Gilroy Unified School District aren’t happy that management employees have already inked a unanimously approved, across-the-board 4.5 percent salary increase, while the some of the “lowest-paid” GUSD employees are still working for the same wages they made six years ago.
While GUSD’s three bargaining units – which does not include the management group whose representatives negotiate directly with the superintendent – have either received or are in the midst of negotiating pay raises for the first time in up to seven years, the “timing” of raises for all of GUSD’s 50 administrative employees didn’t send a good message, according to Chapter President Lee Anne Gaxiola of the California School Employees Association bargaining unit.
“I find this incredibly troubling and I ask that the board reconsider at least the timing of this,” Gaxiola explained, at a Board of Education meeting.
She noted that giving raises to management before CSEA employees gives the impression that “management staff is more important.”
Bus drivers earn between $14.57 and $18.60 an hour depending on their seniority. Some classified employees are paid less. A noon duty supervisor receives $11.13 an hour. The minimum wage in California is $8 an hour, which will increase to $9 in July.
Superintendent Debbie Flores pointed out there is no set order to negotiations.
“We don’t have a specific order that we reach agreements with our bargaining units,” she explained at the Jan. 30 School Board meeting. “We’re happy to go to the table and get this done as quickly as possible.”
A total of 50 administrators ranging from principals to district office employees will receive the 4.5 percent raise retroactive to July 1, 2013. This includes six employees who started working for the district this school year, according to GUSD records.
The cost of the salary increase for the 47 district management staff, the superintendent and two assistant superintendents totals $297,670 for this school year, according to Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Alvaro Meza. That includes a raise for John Perales, the former Christopher High School Principal whose salary jumped to $165,000 (including benefits) after he was promoted in June to Director of Certificated Personnel; and Meza, who was hired this summer. His starting salary was $161,700 and the raise bumped it to $168,977.
The Gilroy Teachers Association also negotiated a 4.5 percent raise that went into effect retroactively in January.
Acknowledging the CSEA’s frustrations with the across the board raises, Flores did ask the district to consider hiring an agency to conduct a management compensation study that compares salaries and benefits of GUSD’s administrative positions against those at up to 10 “comparable districts” with similar demographics and revenue limits.
“I’m going to guess that we have some that compare well and some that don’t compare well at all, and that’s what we want to have in hand when we do salary increases in the future,” she explained.
Gilroy has three bargaining units – the CSEA, which serves classified staff such as bus drivers, yard duties, custodians, pool maintenance workers and grounds workers; the Gilroy Teachers Association, which serves teachers and other certificated staff; and the Gilroy Federation of Teachers and Paraprofessionals, which serves teacher aids, district translators and instructional assistants. The three groups negotiate independent agreements.
The district’s management staff doesn’t have an official bargaining unit, but representatives of the group meet with Flores and, in turn, she makes a recommendation to the Board of Education.
The approval of administrative raises comes on the wings of the recently approved contract between the district and GTA, the district’s largest bargaining group which originally asked for a 7 percent raise. Teachers are paid on a “step and column” scale, meaning they systematically receive a raise based on their education level and the number of years they have taught. The salary schedule in Gilroy has been frozen for seven years, however.
A closer look at the negotiation process
Negotiations with the district’s three bargaining units begin with a “sunshine” proposal during a public meeting in which unit representatives air the issues they would like to negotiate.
CSEA unveiled their “sunshine proposal” in November. Table negotiations follow and as soon as a tentative agreement is reached, the bargaining unit bring the agreement to its members for approval before sending it to the Board of Education for a final vote.
“We’ve been prepared to negotiate with CSEA for quite a while,” Flores told CSEA members at the recent School Board meeting. She reminded them the first round of discussions is scheduled to take place Feb. 12.
“We haven’t forgotten about you,” added Trustee Fred Tovar.
Fiscal forecast calls for careful budgeting
The raises this year are the result of the district’s healthy reserve (more than 9 percent at the district’s first interim report), coupled with a new state funding system, called the Local Control Funding Formula. The LCFF distributes state funding based on school district demographics and will favor GUSD with it’s high numbers of low-income and English Language Learner students.
Under LCFF, the district could receive as much as $7 million in “gap funding” next school year if the state budget outlined by Gov. Jerry Brown in January is approved by state legislature. If that money is received, it will put the district’s reserves at a healthy 12 percent at the end of next school year – including the recent salary adjustments for administrators and teachers – but the school district can’t count on that money until it comes in, according to Meza.
The district office expects to have a little more than 7 percent in reserves (well above the 3 percent required by the state) at the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year.
At a recent superintendent conference, Flores and other attendees were advised to set budget reserves much higher than the state’s required 3 percent, so that a budget crisis at the state level won’t have as much of an impact at the district level.
“I’d like higher than 7.6 myself – if it’s possible,” said School Board President Mark Good.
Still, Flores and other district staff are rejoicing they can even offer a raise of any kind to staff this year.
“It’s long overdue. The cost of living has risen dramatically over those years,” Flores said, adding that staff are also paying more out of pocket for health benefits, which further eats into staff earnings. “It’s wonderful that we finally can give our employees a salary increase.”
Salary ranges for management positions by school district, not including benefits
Gilroy
-Director of Human Resources: $121,456 to $144,312
-High school principal: $112,225 to $133,475
Morgan Hill
-Director of Certificated Personnel: Not available
-High school principal: $118,979 to $136,197
Watsonville
-Director of Human Resources: $88,377 to $105,536
-High school principal: $97,394 to $116,304
