The Palo Alto Educators Association approved an agreement with PAUSD on May 17, with PAEA members –– teachers and licensed professionals –– receiving a 4% on-schedule increase, a 1% off-schedule bonus and a stipend schedule increase of 4% starting July 1.
The agreement was ratified amid disagreements between PAEA and PAUSD. PAEA initially asked for an 8% on-schedule salary increase, and the district countered with a 2% raise. The two parties were unable to reach an agreement until they brought in a mediator, a measure not taken in recent negotiations.
The Campanile recognizes the importance of teachers and other educational staff members to push for better pay, especially considering the high cost of living in one of America’s most expensive areas. The agreement barely keeps up with inflation for the past year, and retaining high quality teachers should continue to be of the utmost importance to the district. The Campanile believes PAEA members should have rejected the contract because PAUSD is not paying them competitively compared to neighboring districts, and further negotiations could have improved teachers’ financial conditions.
As of now, teachers do not feel valued by the district because of the lengthy negotiation process. At an open forum at the April 23 school board meeting, Gunn math teacher Kathy Hawes, who has worked at PAUSD for 33 years, said she feels undervalued by PAUSD. Hawes said she could make $37,000 more a year at the Mountain View Los Altos Unified School District.
“I love my department. I love my collaboration. I love the people I work with,” Hawes said. “But at some point I have to think about what would that $37,000 do for my retirement? What would that do for my cost of living? Can I afford to keep working in Palo Alto?”
The Campanile recognizes that the district, like any public school district, has budgetary restrictions on how much it can pay its teachers. But according to the PAUSD website, the district has over $135 million in reserves, which is almost $100 million more than the legal requirement by the state. The reserves have also grown 187% over the past four years.
On the district website, approximately only $19 million of the reserves is unassigned and unrestricted, with the majority “assigned” or “committed” to various projects. In an interview with The Campanile, PAUSD Superintendent Don Austin said most of the reserves are allocated toward programs such as summer school and free pre-K for hundreds of families, which are currently being provided by a government loan. While The Campanile recognizes many of these programs are necessary, moving forward, The Campanile believes the district should prioritize essential needs, notably teacher salaries, over projects, especially considering the huge growth in reserve funds in recent years. Additionally, the district should label the reserve funds more clearly.
In the short term, since contract negotiations are unlikely to take place next year, The Campanile thinks PAEA should have continued to fight for a higher raise. While The Campanile understands PAUSD cannot ensure a salary high enough to its staff to allow most teachers to own a home in Palo Alto due to the high cost of living, the district should still be doing as much as it can to alleviate the financial burden on teachers. No teacher should have to work multiple jobs to pay their bills or have to move farther away because their salary is not keeping up with inflation.
At the same time, it is true that PAUSD offers great benefits for its teachers, including some of the lowest student-to-staff ratios among neighboring districts at 15:1, as well as additional instructional preparation time. The Campanile applauds PAUSD for making its schools an attractive working environment, but still urges the district to continue to make teachers a priority. When neighboring districts are paying their teachers 11% more than PAUSD, the district should not be content with simply not being in last place. We should aspire to be the best we can be, and that means paying teachers more.
The Campanile also recognizes the district’s participation in affordable housing for teachers, including the 29 units at 231 Grant Ave. However, the housing effort must be expanded to accommodate the more than 900 members of PAEA.
PAUSD has an amazing reputation as a school district, providing one of the best public school education for its students in the state, if not the nation. But the district also needs to accommodate the teachers, the cornerstone of this district’s success. By barely budging on negotiations until a mediator was brought in, the district, either intentionally or unintentionally, demonstrated their indifference towards the teacher’s needs. Providing higher salary raises will benefit the district in the long term by making teachers feel appreciated for the hard work they do for their students, and being transparent with the budget will help to restore trust between the teachers and the district.
Editor’s note: The Campanile’s adviser is a PAEA member and did not influence the choice of editorial topic or the stance The Campanile took for this editorial.
