The Gilroy Teachers Association is asking for a salary increase and better benefits for teachers, speech therapists and physiologists as part of this year’s contract negotiations.
The GTA made an offer that asked for a 7 percent salary increase to cover inflation and the ever increasing cost of living.
The district had not submitted a counter offer as of Tuesday, although both parties were in negotiations in the afternoon.
In early 2012, a GUSD teacher made an average of $65,645 without the cost of medical benefits factored in, according to the district office. A 7 percent salary increase would equate $70,240.15.
“Gilroy Unified School District is one of the lowest-paying districts in the County of Santa Clara,” said Jonathan Bass, a South Valley Middle School sixth grade teacher who spoke about the issue during the public comment section of the Nov. 7 School Board meeting. “When teachers struggle to support themselves and families, the community suffers.”
Among the GTA members are nurses, speech therapists, physiologists and of course, teachers – essentially anyone with a specialty certificate. These district employees have not had a raise since 2007 and have also been asked to assume more of the costs of their benefits after Kaiser Permanente increased its rates and the district could not afford to pay the difference in costs, explained Bass. These teachers and other certificated personnel are now paying more out of pocket from a pool of money that has not been adjusted in six years.
“There’s been people that have lost their homes. They are unable to make their mortgage payment. People are taking second jobs,” Bass explained.
If a salary increase of any size goes into effect, the date at which it starts is also negotiable. The raises could be retroactive and apply to the start of this year, or they could go into affect at the start of next school year.
The increasing cost of living and inflation were among concerns that Bass mentioned at the board meeting. The United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ online inflation calculator calculates that $20 in 2007 has the same buying power as $22.59 today. This means the same $20 item in 2007 now costs the equivalent of $22.59 because the cumulative rate of inflation from 2007 to 2013 was 12.9 percent.
While the cost of living is increasing, the salaries of teachers and other certificated employees such as counselors and psychologists were set in 2007-2008 and have not increased since.
According to GUSD’s current salary scale set in 2007, a certificated staff member with a Bachelor of Arts and a permit or credential could expect to start at $43, 810. By their eighth year of teaching, they would reach a salary of $52,474 which would stay constant even after they had been in the district for 25 years.
Preschool teachers earn at least $34,934 in their first year of work, at least $36,485 their second year of work and at least $51,436 after 21 years of work. In education, higher levels of degrees correlate with more pay. A preschool teacher with the highest level of education on the chart could earn up to $61,690 after 21 or more years of teaching. A certificated staff member with the highest level of education – a Bachelor of Arts and at least 75 units of semester credits, or a Masters with at least 65 units of semester credits – could expect to earn $45,233 their first year of work and $81,988 on their 25th year of work.
During his address to the School Board Nov. 7, Bass asked the audience to express their concern about pay and benefits by raising their hands if they were attending the meeting because of this issue. At least 100 people responded.
An additional 40 people cheered and clapped in support of Bass’ comments from their seats in a second room where they watched televised coverage of meeting proceedings. The overflow room is occasionally opened up when the audience is so large, it can’t fit in the main Board room.
Most of the employees left the room following the public comment section of the meeting.
GTA isn’t the only union in the district concerned about benefits and pay. In the same meeting, BC Doyle and Lee Anne Gaxiola presented the initial CSEA proposal for this school year, which also included concerns about benefits and pay. CSEA is the union that represents more than 210,000 classified school support staff throughout California, including school maintenance workers, cafeteria workers and librarians.
