Ventura school board approves teacher, staff raises; pay, perks to cost district $14.1M

Editor's note: This story has been updated to better explain the process by which the district will apply pay raises.

Six months of tense negotiations finally wrapped Tuesday when Ventura Unified School District trustees approved 10% raises for the district’s teachers and classified employees, according to a district news release.

The jointly negotiated contracts, which also tack on a 2% bonus for the 2022-23 school year, give school staff much of the 12.84% permanent raise they proposed when negotiations began in July. It's also a dramatic increase from the district’s initial offer of a 1% raise with 3% bonus.

The 2% bonus, calculated after the 10% permanent raise is applied, effectively amounts to a 2.2% increase on last year's pay. The raises will cost the district $8 million in teacher salaries and $3.8 million in raises for classified staff on top of the previous $96.6 million payroll. Benefits packages for the two contracts will increase by a total $2.3 million.

“I’m very happy with the agreement,” said Carol Peek, president of the Ventura Education Support Professionals Association, which represents classified employees. “It was a long, exhausting process, but I’m very grateful that it’s done.”

The more than 15,000-student district is the county’s fourth-largest and employs about 800 teachers and 800 classified staff covered by unions.

The district met vocal protests from union members and students as contract talks stalled through the summer and fall. Negotiators finally settled with a tentative deal in December. That deal, which was fully approved Tuesday, will give district staff a pay bump retroactive to July.

District officials initially argued they couldn't afford a large raise with the district facing long-term declining enrollment and shrinking budgets, but increased their offer when more state funding was added to the budget at the beginning of the school year.

"I am happy the district is moving forward with being more competitive around the county," said Dan Nelson, president of the Ventura Unified Education Association.

County education superintendent Cèsar Morales approved the new deal in a letter to Superintendent Antonio Castro, but wrote that the district would need to reduce staff in the long term to keep up with declining enrollment and balance its books.

Alongside the contracts, board members approved matching 10% increases for the rest of the district’s staff, including roles like school principals, adult education instructors and administrators like Castro, who will now make just under $253,000 for the school year.

Together, those raises will cost just over $1.9 million with an additional $500,000 in statutory benefits.

Talks also stalled when the unions refused to budge on a district-proposed cap on health insurance spending. The cap was not included in the final package, but the unions agreed to a change in providers under the same insurance terms.

Gina Wolowicz, the district's assistant superintendent for human resources, said in a news release Thursday that the pending switch would "allow the district to control its health and welfare costs."

"This is essential for the district to plan for the future in an environment of declining enrollment," she said.

Nelson said the process had eroded trust between the district and unions, but that he hoped "future negotiations will go more smoothly" and that trust can be restored. Nelson's term expires at the end of the year, but his seat will be filled in elections this month.

District board president Sabrena Rodriguez said the “most painful part of the process” was that it had made some district staff "feel like they weren't valued."

"We all know the reason we have great schools is our staff," she said.

Rodriguez said relationships had been damaged by more than just tense negotiations.

Rodriguez also noted the district has faced a lot of challenges.

”The Thomas Fire, COVID. We've had significant staff turnover," the board president said.

With talks in the rearview mirror, Rodriguez said she hopes district leadership will have time to reconnect with staff.

"Those relationships are built on more than just compensation," she said. Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach him at isaiah.murtaugh@vcstar.com or 805-437-0236 and follow him on Twitter @isaiahmurtaugh and @vcsschools. You can support this work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura school board approves 10% raises for teachers, staff