Santa Rosa teachers, district reach tentative agreement

After nearly a year spent at the negotiating table, Santa Rosa City Schools and the labor group representing the district’s teachers - two sides that have been in a monthslong standoff over employee compensation - have reached a tentative agreement that would give teachers and other school employees nearly everything they wanted in salary increases and health care benefits.

The two-year deal, which still must be approved by the 880-member Santa Rosa Teachers Association and the district’s board of trustees, marks a clear victory for teachers, who sought to make up for some of the pay cuts, freezes and forced furloughs they experienced amid and after the recession.

They held out over 10 months of negotiations for a better deal, waging a public campaign that included board-meeting and worksite demonstrations.

Under the proposed contract, teachers, counselors, nurses, psychologists and speech therapists with Santa Rosa City Schools - Sonoma County’s largest public K-12 school district - would receive a 2.5 percent raise retroactive to last July and another 3 percent bump for next school year, totaling 5.5 percent in salary increases.

The district also offered $2,500 toward medical benefits beginning this July.

In addition, teachers would receive three additional paid professional development days per year, amounting to an extra 1.6 percent in pay each year, SRTA President Amy Stern said.

“We’re really happy with the agreement,” she said. “I definitely think the membership will ratify this. I’ve received many, many emails of support, phone calls, texts, all supportive.”

Donna Jeye, the school board president, also sounded a positive note about the deal, though district officials have been steadfast in their previous public comments about the financial pressure the district is under and the prohibitive cost of the teachers’ proposed salary increases.

“We are extremely happy that we’ve reached a tentative agreement,” Jeye said at Wednesday night’s board meeting, where the deal was announced.

District officials did not provide specifics on the exact cost of the contract.

At the negotiating table, teachers had sought a 5 percent total compensation increase, including $3,500 a year toward health care. The previous district offer was a 2 percent total pay hike and $1,500 toward medical benefits.

Stern said the governor’s revised budget in May, which freed up more money for schools, was instrumental in advancing negotiations toward a settlement.

“That helped enormously,” she said. “Until then, we only had conjecture. We now know for sure what is in the budget.”

The deal comes on the heels of tentative agreements reached for Cotati-Rohnert Park and Windsor schools that saw teachers win raises of 5 percent and 3 percent, respectively. Petaluma schools remain at an impasse with their teachers union and are in mediation talks.

The tentative deal for Santa Rosa marks the clearest sign yet that as the economy rebounds, local teachers are joining other workers seeking a return of some of the losses in pay and benefits they experienced in the wake of the recession.

Santa Rosa’s deal may lay to rest some of the animosity generated in the 10 months of negotiating, though both sides acknowledged there are wounds that will need to heal.

Contract negotiations began last fall and had been assisted in the past several months by a state mediator after both sides agreed they had reached an impasse.

Teachers ratcheted up their public campaign by flooding board meetings, carrying signs and chanting “5 percent is fair.” They also picketed in front of Santa Rosa High School and conducted a weeklong work-to-rule action, in which teachers worked exactly to what their contract requires, declining to work with students or parents on their own time.

The bitterness reached an apex earlier this month when Stern and trustee Ron Kristof accused Superintendent Socorro Shiels of withholding a potential $2 million in savings from the board, saying such savings could be used to pay teachers more.

That backfired, however, when it was revealed that Kristof and the rest of the board did receive information about the potential savings, but had overlooked it.

The resulting backlash from several other trustees against Kristof and his perceived backroom dealing worsened already raw feelings dividing the ?seven-member board. Tension also flared between union leaders and board members who criticized Kristof.

SRTA leader Will Lyon said the agreement may allow those who had offended one another to apologize and begin rebuilding trust.

“We’ve got a moment here to heal,” he said. “It’s an opportunity. … I wouldn’t say ‘Check mark, healed’ yet. There are all kinds of things that have to be fixed.”

More than a decade ago, teachers gave up district-paid health benefits in exchange for a higher base pay.

That pushed Santa Rosa teachers’ top-step wages to just under $81,000, more than the regional average for comparable districts of about $78,000. Average salary in comparable districts statewide is about $84,000, according to a district study.

But when health care coverage was factored in to total compensation, Santa Rosa teachers fall to the bottom of the 11 districts examined.

Teachers believed at the time that they could buy health coverage cheaper on their own or would benefit from a spouse’s health coverage. The base pay also increased a teacher’s long-term retirement earnings.

But in the past decade, health care costs have skyrocketed, and teachers wanted the district to begin paying their health care again.

Teachers argued that the lack of district-paid health benefits made it difficult for the district to attract and retain good teachers.

District officials had previously agreed that the teachers should get some kind of raise, though they had balked at the 5 percent figure proposed by teachers.

You can reach Staff Writer ?Lori A. Carter at 521-5470 or ?lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.