Teachers, management on 'same page': no pay increase for Placentia-Yorba Linda employees

Agreements reached with the two unions representing most employees in the Placentia- Yorba Linda school district don't include salary increases for the just-completed 2016-17 school year, a plight attributed to California's four-year-old Local Control Funding Formula.

And prospects for pay hikes in future years don't look promising, according to Linda Manion, president of the Association of Placentia-Linda Educators, which represents district teachers in negotiations with school management.

Manion told me a three-year projection of state funding “is not hopeful at this time,” since the provisions in the funding formula result in less money for Placentia-Yorba Linda schools than many surrounding districts.

She said that teachers and administrators have been lost to other area districts due to a wide discrepancy in salaries offered, while noting the teachers' organization agrees with the district that “the money is not there” for pay increases.

That accord is unusual, since teacher and management perspectives on school finances are often at odds, but Manion said the district and teacher association “are on the same page” as both are contacting state legislators and other officials to bring fairness to the funding formula.

One small bright spot is that the district will pick up all rate increases for medical, dental and vision benefits for eligible employees in the 2017-18 school year.

The one-year cost for 989 participating certificated employees will be $67,750 and for 452 participating classified employees $21,500. This year's total cost for the health benefits for certificated and classified employees was $18.1 million and $8.3 million, respectively.

The Placentia-Linda Unified Managers group with about 130 members also received the zero percent salary increase for the past year and small benefit increase for next year. Each action was approved on a 5-0 vote by the district's elected trustees at a June 20 meeting.

An added item in the classified employee contract is that salary discussions will begin within 10 days of a presentation to trustees of 2017-18's first interim budget. District spokesperson Alyssa Griffiths told me that budget is due at the county Dec. 15, with data as of Oct. 31.

A three-year certificated contract ended June 30, so negotiations are expected to begin on a new pact the coming school year. The three-year classified contract runs into 2019.

Teachers will begin the next school year with the same wages earned for 2015-16: from $49,649 for a first-year teacher with a full California credential to $102,774 for a 30-year veteran with specified advanced education credits.

For 2016-17, the Fullerton Joint Union High School District paid credentialed first-year teachers $55,585 and 23-year veterans with advanced credits $112,679. The K-8 Fullerton School District range was $54,415 for a first-year teacher to $111,906 for a 24-year veteran.