Pay talks become personal for teachers
Educators report having to work part-time jobs
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

Although contract talks between the Pleasant Valley School District and its teachers' union have stalled, teachers and parents made impassioned pleas to the school board last week to increase educators' pay and benefits.

The Pleasant Valley Education Association has asked the district for a 6 percent salary raise and $3,500 more a year for benefits. The district says it can only afford 3 percent more for salaries and a one-time benefits bonus of $700, a total of 4 percent.

Gary Mortimer, acting assistant superintendent of fiscal services, told trustees that the kind of raise the union wants would cost the district $2.5 million.

Earlier this week Superintendent Luis Villegas said, "We do believe our teachers deserve more dollars . . . (but) the dollars just aren't there."

At their last meeting on Dec. 7, both sides agreed to call in a mediator. For more information on that meeting, please see front page story.

At the board meeting, the issue became emotional as parents and teachers spoke during public comments.

History teacher and union negotiator Brett Fuchs choked back tears as he said better pay and benefits will help keep experienced teachers in the classroom when his young children start school.

Other teachers said they have to work one and sometimes two parttime jobs to supplement their pay and to afford better healthcare coverage.

Science teacher Doug Brumage said he came to work for the district on advice from his mother, a former Pleasant Valley teacher. He said he's now questioning that decision because his two part-time jobs keep him away from his three small children. He has to work the extra jobs to pay the $600 a month they need for healthcare coverage.

"I'm wondering, 'What am I doing?'" Brumage said. "I'm missing out on part of their lives, because I have to do it."

Newly installed board President Jennifer Miller said Brumage's mother taught her children, and she asked him to thank her.

Some teachers said they pay as much as $1,000 a month for their healthcare benefits.

The union and former district officials have said that the low pay and benefits are causing Pleasant Valley to lose experienced teachers. They said teachers may begin their career here to gain experience and training, but at some point in their careers the pay schedule lags behind that of other districts, prompting the teachers to leave for better paying school districts.

But district statistics don't seem to confirm teachers are leaving en masse. Julie Cavaleri, director of certificated personnel, told trustees that of the 32 teachers who left the district last school year, only three or four did so because of the pay and benefits.

In addition, a discrepancy arose over where Pleasant Valley pay and benefits fall among the other county school districts. The union and a former superintendent have said teachers' pay ranks 16th among the 21 Ventura County school districts; benefits rank last. They said that while the average school district pays $10,000 a year toward a benefit package, Pleasant Valley pays the least at $6,500 a year.

Mortimer said that recent figures, published by School Services of California, show Pleasant Valley teachers are "well compensated" for the first 10 years. The comparison, however, included 13, and not 21, school districts, he said.

Union representatives downplayed the information, saying School Services is a private organization hired as a consultant by school districts negotiating teachers' contracts. The union said the figures came from the Ventura County Office of Education.

Mortimer said the district faces several challenges in the next five years, including a possible decline in state funding and a drop of more than 200 students. One way the district could raise more revenue is to have all students attend school every day, he said. The district has a 96 percent student attendance rate.

But parent Diane Glick said she's unhappy that the district closed two schools earlier this year with the promise to improve teachers' salaries and benefits. Glick said the district hasn't lived up to that promise, and she plans to take her children out of Pleasant Valley schools.

"The true advocates for our children are the yellow shirts sitting behind us," Glick told the board, referring to some 100 teachers wearing shirts that read "Keep Teachers a Priority."

"If these teachers leave, more of us will leave as well," she said.