Board set to approve 4.05 percent compensation increases for all
employees
Gilroy – All district employees, from janitors to assistant superintendents, are in line to receive a 4-percent raise backdated from July, district officials said.
The Gilroy Unified School District will vote Thursday on whether to award equal salary and benefits increases to the three employee unions – which represent staff, teachers and paraprofessionals – as well as the so-called unrepresented management employees, such as principals and district officials. The across-the-board compensation bump – which will cost the district about $2.6 million this year – was the first time all employees were negotiated with at once and one of the fastest bargaining sessions, district staff said.
“We’re very pleased about that because (now) we can all focus our attention on student instruction and learning,” district Superintendent Deborah Flores said.
Members of the 408-member Gilroy Teachers Association will receive 2.87-percent salary increase plus 1.18-percent benefits increase. Members of the Gilroy Federation of Teachers and Paraprofessionals will receive a 4.05 percent increase to their health and benefits package. Members of the California School Employees Association and the unrepresented employees will see 4.05 percent salary increases.
“I don’t think there’s a board member that wouldn’t like to give a lot more,” board of trustees president Tom Bundros said. However, “we offered everything we could.”
The unionized workers and district hammered out the deals in four meetings during 13 days. This was “record-breaking” time, a district document claimed, in part due to a commitment by the district to show the bargaining groups that it was offering all the money it could to teachers, Flores said. In addition, a 27-percent spring insurance-rate increase by Kaiser Permanente, which serves many district employees, was impetus for quick negotiations, teachers association president Michelle Nelson said.
“Every month that goes by, it’s more out of pocket for employees,” she said.
For an individual teacher’s monthly healthcare, the district will contribute between $378 and $709 depending on the plan while that individual pays between $21 and $86. For a family plan, the district will contribute between $1,070 and $1,359 while the teacher pays between $60 and $1,333.
The agreement was received well by association teachers, 86 percent of whom approved the agreement at an Oct. 10 meeting. The passing percentage was not the highest ever for the association, but was a “pretty good stamp of approval,” Nelson said.
“I’m always happy with a raise,” Gilroy High School marine science teacher Jeff Manker said.
However, perennial complaints of being underpaid persist, as teachers said their compensation compared poorly to Santa Clara County peers. Association figures, unverified by the district, put teachers’ compensation in the bottom third of the county despite a 7-percent increase last year and increases of 4.5 percent and 3 percent the years before.
This year’s increase is also below the state 4.5-percent cost of living allowance, an index of inflation, Nelson said. This ensures that teachers will continue to struggle and that new teachers will move away from the district, she said. The district knows these concerns and is trying to address the lagging pay, Flores said.
“I think between last year and this year’s settlement, it’s a really good start,” she said.
Nelson and teachers acknowledge that the district was working with a tight budget and that they should not be held at fault for the Kaiser rate increase. Nonetheless, teachers said that next year they will look for a raise that is close to the state’s allowance and brings them in line with their peers.
“I would expect a raise until we get to the average,” art teacher Annie Tobin said.
