The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District announced on Sept. 7 the ratification of its retroactive 1 percent salary increase for all employees, effective July 1.
Leaders of the Faculty and California School Employees associations tentatively agreed on the salary increase just before Aug. 18, after months of negotiations with the school district. Both associations’ contracts included a 1 percent salary increase for the 2017-18 school year and a one-time bonus amounting to 1 percent of each employee’s new salary.
Faculty Association members ratified the contracts on Aug. 31, according to a school district press release, followed by members of the California School Employees Association on Sept. 5, and the board of education on Sept. 12.
More than 218 members of the Faculty Association voted to pass the salary increase, according to the press release, and all five members of the board of education voted in favor of both contracts.
The raise, according to district Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Kevin Platt, could have been higher if it weren’t for the district’s rising cost of employee retirement pension payouts, which is expected to increase by $1 million each year for the next several years.
The school district employs nearly 800 people, most of whom are enrolled in retirement plans through the California Public Employees Retirement System or the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. Both retirement programs are struggling to meet financial needs.
Still, Platt said transparency and honesty allowed negotiations between the district and its employees to run smoothly.
“We built some good relationships and trust,” Platt said in the release. “This shows we all want what’s best for students.”
This article appears in Sep 21-28, 2017.