San Carlos School District

Letter from the Board on Negotiations

Posted on 26. Jun, 2010 in News, Spotlight

June 25, 2010

Dear San Carlos School District Community Member,

A Fact Finding Panel reported on the current state of negotiations between the District and its teachers’ union, the San Carlos Teachers Association (SCTA). Staff reviewed the report with the Board in both open and closed sessions on Thursday, June 24th.

The report affirmed the District’s need to reduce the amount of money spent on its teaching staff to address a fiscal crisis brought on by reduced State funding. The report’s author is a neutral third-party appointed by the Public Employees Relations Board.

The report made several non-binding recommendations. First, seniority-based compensation increases should be frozen, and teacher salaries should be reduced through a combination of across-the-board cuts and up to four furlough days. In addition, the number of classroom teachers should be reduced through class size increases and elimination of class size caps. Finally, the across-the-board salary reductions noted above should be reduced if, by September, the District learns the financial shortfall will be less than the anticipated $2.85 million. The complete report is available here.

Although the Board is still reviewing the report, its recommendations appear reasonable. Even though they do not quite provide the needed level of savings, the recommendations are roughly consistent with what was assumed in the District’s recently adopted 2010/2011 budget. Under that budget, class sizes would generally increase by two students in grades K-4, and in some middle school classes. The budget also assumes instructional time for students will not be reduced.

While the recommendations are non-binding, the Board places great weight on the opinions of a neutral third-party fact finder. It is the Board’s sincere hope the neutral fact finder’s perspective will validate for the SCTA the District’s need to reduce overall compensation expense. The Board has asked the Superintendent to meet privately with the SCTA as soon as possible to see if the fact finding recommendations could lead to a mutually-acceptable contract.

We encourage you to review an FAQ on the current state of negotiations. In addition, if you have other questions, please feel free to contact either Craig Baker, our superintendent, or any trustee.

These are hard times, offering only difficult choices. Many districts throughout California are taking extraordinary steps to maintain their financial solvency in the face of drastic and continuing cutbacks in State education funding. Neither the Board nor the Superintendent wants to take money away from teachers. We agree whole-heartedly with the fact finding report’s statement that teachers are not paid enough for the important service they provide to our communities. Unfortunately, as the report also noted, the District’s fiscal viability must also be weighed in the balance.

The Board takes very seriously its responsibility to meet the needs of all its students, both today and in the future. We cannot simply run down our already-shrunken reserves to the statutory minimum. To do so would be to make local control of the District – and therefore our excellent educational program — hostage to unforeseen events or further cuts by Sacramento. After many hours of presentations, public and private comment, analyses, discussion and debate, we believe the District’s goals for the negotiations are, under the current circumstances, the best we can do for our staff, our community and, most importantly, our students.

Very Truly Yours,