Dear Las Lomitas Community,
On Friday, LLEA (the teachers union) authorized a strike should the district fail to meet its demand for a 10% salary increase by October 17. I wanted to clarify that the LLEA may not take any work action (such as a strike) until after the fact-finding panel report is published:
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Oct 2: Fact-finding panel hearing with LLEA and district
- Oct 7: Fact-finding panel’s report and recommendation published and shared with the community
- Oct 17: LLEA and the district could take a work action (such as a strike)
Please know that the district administration and leadership prioritize the well-being of our students; we are working to reach an agreement with the LLEA that avoids any disruption to our children’s education.
Regarding the bargaining discussions, I wanted to clarify a few points of confusion:
Salary Comparisons
LLESD’s current offer to the LLEA–a 5% salary increase plus almost $2K in additional healthcare benefits per employee–has been on the table since May. Once negotiations are settled, the district will retroactively pay teachers the increase for the 2023-24 school year as well as for the days worked in the current year. The district’s offer would put LLESD at or near the top of the payscale compared to our neighboring public elementary school districts.
Unfortunately, the district cannot fund the 10% salary increase without putting our budget (~$40M annually) in the red by several million dollars over the next few years.
The salaries cited by the LLEA do not reflect the actual compensation teachers will receive for the 2023-2024 school year once they accept an offer. The LLEA also compares LLESD salaries for the 2022-23 school year with other districts’ salaries from more recent years (2023-24 and 2024-25), after settlements were made.
Reserves
LLESD is using its cash reserves wisely in order to pay for the current offer, manage cash flow, guard against economic downturns that impact our property tax revenues, and meet state requirements. After dipping into our reserve by 2% to pay for our current offer, the district plans to keep 28% of our budget in reserve (the statewide average for public-school-district reserves is 24%). The LLEA-cited reserve of 48% includes funds we’ve allocated to cover the cost of the current offer plus an on-paper-only “asset” the state requires as an accounting entry for school districts that lease property to other entities.
Administrative Costs
LLESD’s administrative staffing levels, pay and expenses fall in line with those of our neighboring public elementary school districts. While the board and administration have and will carefully consider how we might cut administrative spend, a 10% across-the-board raise would require much more impactful (in the millions) cost-cutting measures such as reducing educational programming or substantially increasing class sizes. Alternatively, we would need to find a large new source of income for the district.
We value our teachers enormously and will continue to offer creative solutions to come to an agreement that supports our students, staff and the fiscal health of our district.
Sincerely,
Heather Hopkins
Las Lomitas Elementary School District Board President
