When you think of a typical school board meeting, dozens of posters or a crowd outside the door probably don’t come to mind, but Tuesday’s Palo Alto Unified School District meeting had both.
Around 300 PAUSD teachers gathered outside the district office, many of them cheering with megaphones and boomboxes in hand. Raising posters reading “WTF … Where’s the Funding?” and “I’m a math teacher … the math isn’t adding up,” the teachers were all there to demand one thing: better pay.
The teachers participated in a Palo Alto Educators Association rally before the board meeting, during which PAEA members — many of whom are PAUSD staff — advocated for an average salary comparable to neighboring district salaries.
Although only a few miles apart, MVLA teachers earn a substantially higher salary than those who work for PAUSD. The average first-year high school teacher at MVLA receives $101,947 while their PAUSD counterpart earns $76,488, according to the respective district’s salary schedules for this school year.
The “Compensation and Benefits” negotiation led by the PAEA — the PAUSD teachers’ union — is designed to modify the current salary plan. This negotiation happens annually, unless a multi-year deal is in effect.
The district currently has $135 million put aside in reserves, which is $100 million more than the state requires them to keep, according to the PAEA’s website. These reserves are meant to manage cash flow and serve as a backup fund, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office. Instead, the PAEA aims to allocate the district’s extra funds towards teacher salaries.
“Ideally, we would like a salary increase that keeps up with inflation and the Bay Area cost of living,” PAEA president Teri Baldwin said in an email.
For the most part, PAUSD teachers rarely live in Palo Alto and commit to longer commutes, largely due to staggering Bay Area housing prices, Gunn High School computer science teacher Joshua Paley said.
“For most teachers, money is the bottom line,” Paley said. “I’ve had colleagues in the math department here who have left because they couldn’t afford to stay here.”
According to Paley, the district’s comparatively lower salaries act as roadblocks when sourcing quality teachers, making it difficult to attract current and future teachers.
During the early stages of this year’s negotiation — which started in October — the district took over three months to provide a counterproposal, delaying progress. If PAEA and PAUSD aren’t able to reach an agreement before the next school year, Baldwin said, negotiations for both next year and this year will occur simultaneously.
So far, the PAEA and the district have tentative agreements on three articles and one memo of understanding. Despite this, the PAEA declared an impasse with the Public Employment Relations Board on March 29 out of frustration with the little progress made.
“I’m very worried that teachers are viewed as fungible in an era where it’s getting harder and harder to find teachers,” Paley said.
The next mediation session is scheduled to be held on April 29.
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