Teachers want school board to re-examine district budget
Educators say raises don't match annual inflation rates
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

As they have for the past several months, teachers in the Pleasant Valley School District urged trustees to raise their salaries and benefits at a recent school board meeting.

Contract talks between the school district and the Pleasant Valley Education Association reached an impasse in December after the union refused a 3 percent salary raise and one-time bonus of $700 from the district. The district turned down the union's counteroffer of a 6 percent pay increase and $3,500 more a year toward healthcare benefits.

The two sides are expected to meet with a mediator this month.

Union demands will become more difficult for the district to meet, as the state faces a $14billion shortfall and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing nearly $400 million in cuts to public schools and community colleges.

Pleasant Valley teachers are adamant, nonetheless, that the district can afford to increase their salaries and benefits, which are among the lowest in Ventura County.

The district's pay begins at a competitive starting salary, but by year five or six the salary gap between what Pleasant Valley and other school districts pay widens and the gap never closes, said Suzann Zeigler, teachers' union president.

As for teachers' healthcare benefits, Pleasant Valley's share is $6,500 a year- the smallest contribution of any school district in Ventura County, according to the county Office of Education.

"How can the board live with themselves, knowing we are at the bottom of the county in benefits?" kindergarten teacher Lindsey Lehman said at the Jan. 17 school board meeting.

"I am being honest with you- I am unable to meet my family's monthly expenses," said teacher Robin Dalbey, a single mother of three who told trustees she receives no child support and must pay more than $600 a month for the family's healthcare benefits. "I bring home less money now than I did last year."

Dec. 12 letter to parents

Other teachers called a Dec. 12 letter, sent to parents by Superintendent Luis Villegas, "misleading" and "self-serving."

The letter, posted on the district's website, said teachers received almost 20 percent in salary raises over a six-year period. Teachers said, however, the letter didn't disclose how the raises failed to match the state's costofliving increases.

The 19.77 percent pay increase has meant teachers received just over a 3 percent raise per year.

Jamshid Damooei, an economics professor at Cal Lutheran University, said that because of inflation the overall raise may have Pleasant Valley teachers breaking even and unable to see any "real increase."

"It sounds good, but in reality it's just a bunch of garbage," union President Zeigler said. "The problem is that the district doesn't spend its money in a way that teachers are given a costofliving increase every year."

Zeigler called the district's claim that teachers are a priority is "a flatout lie" since it pays for "pet projects" before giving educators a better raise.

The union has gone over the budget thoroughly and suggested the district free up money by trimming 10 percent from all programs, which would set funding at last year's levels, she said. "If they wanted to find the money, they could find the money- it's not like it's not there," Zeigler said. "We would not ask for money we did not honestly feel the district has."

Villegas, on the other hand, insists there just isn't enough money for the kind of raise the union wants.

"The wallet is empty," he said. "There's just so much in the budget, and the budget is stretched."

The district's letter also suggested teachers are satisfied with the district, stating that 49 percent of teachers have 10 years or more with Pleasant Valley.

The position is contrary to the one taken by Villegas' predecessor, Ken Moffet. Moffet said early last year the district could become a training ground for new teachers if it doesn't improve pay and benefits and that teachers tend to leave around their third year, before the district could reap its financial investment in their training.

But recent district statistics seem to indicate otherwise. Julie Cavaleri, director of certificated personnel, told trustees in December that of the 32 teachers who left in 200607, only three or four indicated it was because of the pay and benefits.

Pleasant Valley teachers are paid between $42,000 and $70,000. In the Hueneme School District, pay ranges between $41,000 and $80,000 a year, and teacher longevity isn't dramatically different. Between 50 percent and 55 percent of Hueneme's teachers have stayed a decade or longer with the district, said Deborah DeSmeth, assistant superintendent of human resources.

Negotiate from COLA

Teachers also repeatedly asked the school board last month to start negotiating raises from the annual costofliving adjustment, commonly called COLA.

Villegas said that's difficult to do because the annual increase is needed by the district to pay for rising operating costs and hidden expenses, such as insurance and the district's contribution to employees' retirement accounts.

The cost of salaries and benefits for district employees appear to be headed upward too. Last year 84 percent of the district's general fund went to pay for all employees' salaries and benefits. The remaining 16 percent covered programs and other operating expenses, including escalating healthcare costs.

So far this year, the district has spent 4 percent more on employee benefits and pay, a December audit found. The main reason is the 8 percent raise the district gave teachers and classified employees last year, Villegas said.

A second audit, done by the district and due out in March, could be more "problematic," Villegas said, given the governor's proposal of cutting out nearly $400 million from K12 education and community colleges before June. For Pleasant Valley, that could mean a loss of about $250,000, or the equivalent of four teachers, Villegas said.

The state could fill the deficit by reneging on grant money promised to schools for programs and supplies, the superintendent said, but if that proves unsuccessful the state may actually take money away from school districts.

"The picture is really getting ugly," Villegas said.

Villegas said he expects to know more after the state releases additional information about the budget and when the next audit report is prepared.

Having run the district since July, Villegas said he's looked for wasted dollars or unaccounted money to give to teachers but hasn't found any because the district operates efficiently.

Should Pleasant Valley merge with a larger school district so it can afford better pay and benefits for teachers? "I don't think so," Villegas said.

Unification is the answer, because adding high school students to the district will bring in more state revenue, and that means more money for employee raises and benefits, Villegas said.

Contrary to critics who say the district is mismanaged and point to the closing of Valle Lindo several years ago while the district was updating the campus, Pleasant Valley does not have a history of squandering money and the recent audit proves it's well managed, he said.

The closure may have been due to a set of circumstances beyond the district's control. Pleasant Valley might have been committed to the modernization when the board decided to close the school, Villegas said.