Milpitas teachers and classified staff members came out full-force to the Milpitas Unified School District’s (MUSD) March 11 board meeting to demand a fair salary increase. There were over a couple hundred people in attendance.
Some background: During recent contract negotiations, the district had offered a 1% off-schedule increase, which teachers and other staff found unacceptable. An off-schedule increase is basically a one-time bonus that is outside of the salary structure; it’s something that is often used as a way of negotiating in lieu of a regular salary increase. Many expressed their frustration with the current offer during public comment.
A California Schools Employee Association (CSEA) labor representative for Chapter 281 noted that they are looking for a 1.5% on-schedule increase for classified staff. This would cost the district $406,500, including statutory benefits.
Another member of the CSEA classified negotiating team came up to speak, noting that they had been meeting regularly with the district:
“We have made numerous proposals, however the district’s counter proposals have been sadly underwhelming. We are told the district has a large deficit due to budget constraints and there are very limited funds to work with,” said the CSEA member.
But the CSEA member mentioned that they believed there to be budget data and projection inconsistencies, especially after the negotiations team had sent MUSD’s financials to CSEA for a budget review. At that time, a CSEA analyst had produced a summary of findings stating that “the financial condition appears to be healthy and above average at this time. There should be no claim of lack of funds at this time.”
Clarissa Isbell, Milpitas Teachers Association (MTA) President and a teacher in the district for over 27 years, said, “I’m concerned about the budget priorities of this district. We are in a time of extreme inflation and we live in an area that is one of the most expensive to live in this country. We love what we do and we love the community we serve, but many of us have to leave each year. Why do teachers leave this district? Because they can’t afford to live here.”
Ashley Grilli has taught at Rose Elementary School for the past 14 years.
At the meeting, Grilli told the Board, “Teachers deserve a living wage. We deserve to have affordable healthcare for our families. We can’t attract the best teachers to give the best to our students without fair and competitive compensation.”
Brett Webber is MTA’s vice president and lead negotiator; he is also an English teacher at Milpitas High School. He came to the podium and spoke strongly of MUSD’s Culture of WE and how he – along with fellow educators and other staff – are the ones showing up and working with students on a daily basis.
“Now, this year, you give us nothing. No real raise whatsoever. You offered us a 1% cash bonus,” said Webber. “And I noted with intrigue that when we saw the budget earlier, the supplies and services got a budget increase of 2.86%. You value supplies and materials more than you value “WE.”’
Following the meeting, The Beat spoke with MUSD Board President Chris Norwoord to get his thoughts on the evening. He made it very clear that the Board is not involved in contract negotiations, so “we have to trust that the association and the district will take care of all this in a timely manner.”
“There were so many positives about how the teachers came out to express themselves. They were given space within the context of our meeting,” said Norwood. “And there were things I heard them say that the district has to investigate.”
In an attempt to investigate and explore further, MUSD held a special meeting on March 18, where they spoke about the public comments and frustration from teachers and staff alike.
The Board spoke about topics that were mentioned at the March 11 meeting; issues such as the high cost of living and health insurance, along with special education teachers having to write their own curricula.
Norwood is hopeful that both sides will determine a solution that is acceptable for MUSD’s teachers and staff.
“Historically we’ve always gotten through tough times. We’ve always figured out how to move things forward. We’ve always worked through negotiations with our teachers. We know that negotiations will get solved. My hope is that it happens sooner than later,” said Norwood.
Multiple sources have confirmed with The Beat that after the March 11 meeting, MUSD came back with an improved offer, which could be approved as soon as the next board meeting in April.
This is a developing story, and we’ll be providing more updates as things progress.
No raise for our teachers and yet MILPITAS Sanitation just raised our water bill a whopping 9.29%. How can teachers even stay even with no raise? And how can retired teachers on a fixed income pay such outrageous increases on our water bills?