Dublin School District Makes New Contract Offer To Teachers

This story was made possible by the support of Dublin Patch members. Want to support more local coverage of Dublin? Click here to learn more.

DUBLIN, CA — As contract negotiations between the Dublin Unified School District and the Dublin Teachers Association progressed to the next level after attempts at mediation this week apparently failed to settle the dispute, school officials Wednesday made a new offer that they say was an attempt to meet DTA demands for increased wages and more favorable working conditions.

The District’s revised offer contains a 4% ongoing raise for all teachers retroactive to last July 1, a one-time bonus of 1% and includes the additional one-half-of-one-percent wage hike for the longest serving teachers contained in the District’s original offer.

The DTA has demanded a 1.5% increase for the current school year, 3% for the 2019-20 school year and a one-time bonus of 3.5% and a one-half-of-one-percent additional increase for teachers at the top of the pay scale. While the District’s new offer reduces the amount of the one-time bonus included in its initial contract offer, it retroactively hikes the percentage of salary increases above what the DTA had demanded for the current school year.

Superintendent Dr. Leslie Boozer said in a statement the District believes its new offer “provides equitable pay for our dedicated teachers and allows us to have the ongoing resources to invest in critical needs like new textbooks, professional development, educational programs and services and counselors.”

Boozer said in making the new offer, school administrators and the school board “have looked to utilize future state funding increases in combination with one-time district monies” contained in DUSD’s reserve fund.

The ultimate financial impact on the District can’t be determined until a final contract has been approved by the DTA, whose members last week overwhelming voted to authorize a strike if they don’t get what they want.

Beyond salaries, the District’s offer includes additional compensation for teachers wrestling with increased class sizes and attendant workloads. For example, K-5 elementary teachers with more students than provided under negotiated class sizes will receive extra compensation of $6.50 per student per day. For middle and high school teachers the District has offered compensation of $1.50 per student per day for the cumulative number of students exceeding certain baselines.

The District will make additional payments to teachers and support staff as compensation for extra work such as being assigned to cover another classroom.

There was no immediate response from the DTA.

The District’s new offer comes as both sides in the long-running contract dispute prepare to enter a state-mandated fact-finding process that can take a month or more.

Under state law the fact-finding panel is composed of three members – a neutral chairman approved by the Public Employment Relations Board and one member appointed by the DTA and the District. The panel conducts a hearing during which both sides make presentations and the panel ultimately issues a report detailing its findings and recommendations, something that can be used as the basis for an agreement.

If an agreement can’t be reached after fact-finding, DUSD and the DTA could mutually agree to arbitration or the District could choose to impose the terms of its last offer and the DTA could go on strike.

See Also:

• Dublin Teachers Authorize Strike; Up Ante In Contract Talks
  
• Dublin Teachers Schedule Strike Authorization Vote
  
• Dublin Teachers Rally For ‘Schools Students Deserve’