One-hundred-thirty-five million dollars.
That is the amount of cash in reserves that Palo Alto Unified School District has for the 2023-24 school year. That number has been the crux of a conflict between Palo Alto Staff and district leadership in a struggle over contracts and benefits for the upcoming school year, especially over wages.
Earlier this month, for the first time in 15 years, the Palo Alto Educators Association, alongside its sister organization, the California School Employees Association, filed for an impasse with PAUSD. As of May 13, a tentative agreement has been reached, and things seem hopeful as a vote to ratify is being held over the course of the week, while this magazine was being produced.
The tentative agreement allots for a scheduled 4% salary increase for both the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years, as well as an unscheduled salary increase of 1% for the 2023-2024 school year. It also adds a salary increase of 4% for outside-of-classroom activites and a salary restructuring that amounts to around a 2.5% increase per teacher.
Still, this is a situation Palo Alto has not had to deal with for 15 years, so how did things get to this point?
According to Niche Rankings, PAUSD is ranked first in the state, a fact regularly promoted by the district as a sign of Silicon Valley excellence. However, over the past few years, staff wages have gradually fallen behind other districts: PAUSD now ranks 11th in starting salaries, according to PAEA president Teri Baldwin. Curiously, over the same period of time, administrator wages have been rising.
“It has been a concern for many years, and last year, we reached a salary agreement that helped, but we are still behind our neighboring districts, Mountain View Los Altos High School and Santa Clara Unified District,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin also pointed out the impact that the slow growth of pay is having on the quality of education within the district.
“We have many teachers that have long commutes to get here because they can’t afford to live near here,” Baldwin said. “That takes a toll on our teachers and some decide to leave for districts that are paying more.”
PAEA, which represents 97% of the teachers throughout PAUSD, originally began negotiations back in December 2023. In a slide deck shared online, PAEA pointed out that Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District has a maximum salary that is over $37,000, or 24.8%, more than PAUSD. During this time, PAEA originally requested an 8% raise, which has now come down to the tentative agreement of 4%.
Although members of the board were not available for comment, they directed reporters toward the PAUSD website, which says that the financial reserves were being withheld to maintain fiscal responsibility.
However, PAEA also alleges that yearly budget excesses that are later added to the reserves would be enough to cover proposed salary increases without dipping into reserves. In a post on its website, PAEA also expressed disagreement with the school district’s level of commitment to financial security over investment in high quality staff and therefore investment in students.
“We are not a bank, but an educational public institution, and that money should be used on our students,” union members wrote.
Things came to a head on April 23 at a school board meeting, where hundreds of teachers, staff, and their supporters rallied in the early evening and spoke out during the open forum.
Gunn math teacher of 33 years Kathy Hawes emphasized the effects of the wage disparity at the open forum.
“I love my department,” Hawes said. “I love my collaboration. I love the people I work with. But at some point I have to think about what that $37,000 would do for my retirement? What would that do for my cost of living? Can I afford to keep working in Palo Alto?”
Paly English teacher Alanna Williamson also spoke about the broader issues with the district during her time in the open forum.
“More than the actual money, it’s about what the pay represents: the degree to which this district values educators and our work,” Williamson said. “When you say you do not worry about teacher retention it suggests that PAUSD does not care about teacher retention and our happiness.”
Despite the tentative agreement, many teachers are unsure about the future of negotiations and whether to vote to ratify or not.
Attendees spoke out during the meeting’s open forum, while others cheered and clapped in appreciation. Paly student representative Karthi Gottipati expressed his support during the meeting as well. “Every single Paly student believes in their teachers“, he said. “I know that every single one of them, if I was ever having an issue, would be prepared to spend the time talking to me to make me feel heard, and because [of that] I want to make sure that every teacher here gets heard as well“.
A PAUSD middle school teacher who asked not to use her name expressed how this current struggle feels like part of a larger issue with the district as a whole.
“Now, teachers can see that [campus administrators are] in fear of the people at the district,” they said. “It looks like the administration can’t really make decisions for their own sites on their own since they’re so worried about all the consequences or backlash that perhaps goes back at them. I do worry about the future of our district. For awesome educators to stay and come together, they need to really reevaluate how they approach things now.”
PAEA union representative and statistics teacher Daniel Nguyen also underscored a feeling of growing mistrust between staff and the district, especially around a recent report comparing local salaries. He said the district took advantage of the fact that salaries are constantly being increased in step with inflation in order to misrepresent potential increases.
“If you look at a salary from two years ago [at a different district], compared to a possible salary [at our district with an inflation bonus built in] next year, the next year just by default is gonna be high, right?” Nguyen said.
According to Nguyen, a state mediator arrived on April 29 to assist with negotiations. If neither side comes to a final resolution, a fact-finding committee will be formed by both parties and the mediator, which will compose a final report on the negotiations. At that point, the district will put forward a final offer, which the CSEA and PAEA unions can either accept or choose to strike.
“It’s not fun for anybody, but if the district continues to indicate that they value building their reserves and profits over recruiting the best teachers, [we have to] do something about that,” Nguyen said.
History teacher Ken Tinsley, who was at the board meeting on April 23rd, also reiterated what a strike would mean for the district.
“When it comes to striking, it is something where it’s not lost on anybody. It shouldn’t be lost on anybody, the effects,” Tinsley said. “I just want to stress, that is the nuclear option. That is the end all be all.”
Most likely though, the tentative agreement will be ratified by May 20 and the situation will not end in a strike.
If the tentative agreement fails to pass, the current contract between staff and the district does not expire until June 30, meaning a strike would not happen until the start of the 2024-2025 school year in August.