PD Editorial: Fires leave Santa Rosa school district with funding unknowns

Given all the losses from the firestorms, including the loss of three weeks of instructional days at local schools, the last thing that children, educators and parents of Santa Rosa need is a teacher strike - or even the threat of one.

That may have been averted for now, thanks to a tentative agreement reached Thursday between the Santa Rosa City Schools district and teachers. That’s something worth applauding. But many questions and concerns remain about this deal.

First, will teachers be more supportive this time around? The district and teachers had reached a tentative deal in September, an agreement that included a 1.5 percent salary increase over two years, plus a one-time 0.5 percent bonus that was retroactive to the 2016-17 school year. But members of the Santa Rosa Teacher Association rejected that agreement 55 percent to 45 percent in voting that began before the fires of early October and ended while firefighters were still battling.

That left the district and teachers, who have been working without a contract since June 30, 2016, at an impasse, one they have been trying to work through since early summer.

Then a fact-finding panel assigned by the state Public Employees Relations Board issued its decision - and came down on the side of the teachers union. In a perplexing decision, the panel found that the district had made its case that “it had a current and projected budget deficit due to a decline in enrollment and the resultant decrease in state funding as well as a mandated increase in employee pension contributions.” But the divided three-person panel decided that the district should award the teachers the salary and benefits increases they wanted anyway - without explaining where the money would be found.

The two sides reached the latest tentative agreement during the first negotiating session following the release of that fact-finding report.

But that leads to the second question: Even if the teachers approve this new tentative agreement, how will the district be able to afford it? It already had to cut $4.5 million from this year’s budget and was anticipating having to cut some $7 million more over the next two years even without this latest increase.

The new agreement calls for a 1 percent salary increase starting Jan. 1, followed by a 1.5 percent raise on Jan. 1, 2019. In addition, teachers would see their health care benefits increase by $2,800 over the next two years.

There’s no disputing that Santa Rosa teachers have long been in need of better health benefits. Still, this deal, if approved, would cost the district an additional $6.9 million over three years. That’s far less than the $12 million hit the district would have taken with everything the fact-finder had recommended, but it’s still not clear where these new funds will be found.

This leads to perhaps the most significant unknown of all. How are the fires going to impact the district’s finances in the long run?

Given how public schools are funded in California, everything depends on enrollment. When enrollment goes down, so does tax income.

According to Superintendent Diann Kitamura, the school district enrollment is already down by about 50 students since the fire and district officials are fearing the loss of more in the months ahead. Santa Rosa City Schools is seeking legislative help in protecting its revenues over the next three years while homes are rebuilt. But that’s far from certain.

Given these unknowns, the school district should be wary of locking itself into contracts it may not be able to afford. Yes, teachers deserve higher pay and better benefits. But the facts have changed since the last fact-finding effort began, and there are more risks and more unknowns now.

Approving a contract that many end up forcing the district to cut teaching positions down the road wouldn’t help anybody, especially students.