Antioch teachers’ union to hold rally Feb. 21 seeking pay raise, smaller class sizes, more
Members currently voting on interest to authorize a strike; district says union’s budget figures incorrect
The two sides differ on amount available for pay & benefit increases by almost $18 million
“You can only get burned so many times before you stop believing them.” – AEA President Bob Carson
By Allen D. Payton
The Antioch Education Association (AEA) is planning to hold a “Rally for Student Success” on Wednesday, Feb. 21 as part of a larger effort of the East Bay Coalition for Student Success (EBCSS). In addition, the local teachers’ union members are voting on interest to authorize a strike.
In a Dec. 18, 2023 post on the Antioch Education Association’s (AEA) Facebook page they wrote, “District revenues have skyrocketed over the last few years but the % of those monies spent on educator’s salaries continues to decline??? How can we attract and retain the best educators for the students of Antioch when this is happening?”
Another post on Friday, Feb. 9, 2024 reads, “Antioch Unified School District Why???” and claims, “AUSD ended the year with $88M in unspent funds. After taking out restricted money and reserves…AUSD STILL has $34.4 million sitting in the bank that can be used for staff salaries and benefits.”
In another Facebook post that day, the AEA posted a flier about the rally which included what they’re seeking. The flier reads, “Join us as we raise our voices in support of/for: quality educators in every classroom, smaller class sizes and caseloads, salary increase reflective of the 8.22% COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment), fully paid medical benefits for all members and safe schools for our students and members.”
According to a June 2023 article on their website, the EBCSS was formed in September 2022, and “is committed to ensuring local school districts continue to prioritize funds to provide the best for student learning and educator retention and attraction. Locals and district management teams in the coalition have been working hard at the bargaining table to win agreements that focus resources on students and educators.”
Emails were sent to both Bob Carson, President of the AEA and a member of the EBCSS, and Antioch Unified School District Superintendent Stephanie Anello asking for more details about a possible strike.
Antioch Teachers’ Union President Offers Details
Carson responded, “No EBCSS association has authorized a strike. What many have done is have preliminary strike authorization votes. Antioch is doing one right now, as is Pittsburg. Other chapters like Piedmont, Pleasanton, Moraga and Dublin have already concluded their strike authorization votes. These are not votes on whether educators are going on strike but whether they will be supporting their negotiating teams until the end and be willing to participate in actions called on by the Association. A final strike vote could only occur after all the steps in the negotiating process have failed. In Antioch and these other locations, we are not there yet.
The goal of the EBCSS and its members is that each student find success. There are many ways to help make that happen. Smaller class sizes so students get more individual attention, the best technology, and safe schools are just some of things the EBCSS advocates for. We believe the most important need in a student finding success in school is to have a quality educator in every classroom. Paying competitive salaries, having full paid medical benefits (at the Kaiser rate), and good working conditions is how you get quality educators.
To be specific to what is happening in Antioch, the AUSD negotiating team presented AEA with their “best and final” offer in a December negotiating session. Since we found that offer lacking in many areas, we rejected it. We were then at “impasse”. We now have a state appointed mediator who is trying to find a way to get the 2 sides to reach an agreement. We have met 3 times with that mediator and have another meeting scheduled for 2/22. No specific offers being presented are allowed to be publicly discussed during mediation. I can tell you we have had no success to date. If the mediator at some point feels there is no hope in facilitating an agreement, either side can then move the negotiations to “fact-finding” where an appointed arbitrator receives information from both teams and writes a statement on their findings. After fact-finding, the 2 sides are required to meet for at least one more negotiating session where the district could again present their best and final offer. At that point, a strike vote could be called.
AEA is hopeful that an agreement can be reached but will not accept an offer that is not reflective of the 8.22% COLA increase the district received this year. Class size, caseloads for counselors and speech pathologists, medical benefits, and salary are the main issues right now. As you saw on our FB page, we are planning a rally on 2/21, in conjunction with other EBCSS associations. We want to bring attention to the issues. One serious problem for us is the tremendous ending balances AUSD is carrying over every year. This is money provided by the state of California to be used on our students. Instead, its sits in the bank – year after year. This year AUSD had an ending balance of $34,000 million dollars in unrestricted funds (money that can be spent on anything) not used. They had close to another $40 million in restricted funds also not spent. This is after accounting for the prudent reserve required of them to have by the state. To me – and AEA members – that is crazy. That money could be used in many ways to help the students of Antioch and to help AUSD find quality educators.”
District Says Teachers’ Union Using Old, Incorrect Information
In response to the request for more details from Superintendent Anello and the claims by the AED, the school district’s Associate Superintendent for Business and Operations, Liz Robbins shared the following: “Their information is from the unaudited actuals report which shows how the District ended the 2022-2023 school year.
Our first interim budget report which was presented to the Board in December, provides the most current financial information.
$46.2 million is restricted monies; $22.5 million is unrestricted. Of the $22.5 million, $18 million is allocated for potential salary and benefit increases. $4.5 million is allocated for school improvements and upgrades including HVAC, security, and technology. Lastly, $9.4 million of the ending fund balance is the set-aside required by the State for economic uncertainty. This leaves approximately $500k of unassigned funds in the ending fund balance.
The budget is not a static document, and an updated second interim financial report will be presented to the Board on March 13.”
$17.9 Million Difference Between District Budget & Teachers’ Union Figure
According to the 2023-24 First Interim MYP (Multi Year Plan) – Components of Fund Balance chart on page 80 of the 2023-24 First Interim Budget Presentation, provided to the school board at their meeting on Dec. 13, 2023, it shows $15,961,836 “Assigned for Potential Employee Negotiated Settlement”. That plus the $521,041 in Unassigned/Unappropriated funds results in about $16.5 million available for salary and benefit increases, which is $17.9 million less than what the teachers’ union claims is available.
AEA President Disagrees Says District Using Projected Estimates
That information was provided to Carson who was asked if he had a final response on the matter, for now. He provided the chart (above) and replied, “In September of each year the district presents to the school board their ‘unaudited actuals’. This financial report reflects the district’s final year end closing from the previous June (end of the financial year). The numbers I gave you are from that. Those numbers are what the district had left over from the previous year. Money not spent. That’s a fact – straight from their reporting.”
“The December (which Liz references) and March interim reports are estimates based on what the district says they are going to do. The September report is what they did,” Carson continued. “What they really spent. For example, last year the district said they would have $7 million in unrestricted funds left over in their December interim report but in September they had $34 million!!!!! Their estimate was way off. I will bet you a soda it will be way off again come September 2024. On top of all that, the district received an 8.22% COLA increase!!!”
“If this was a one-year bad projection, we would understand. It happens every year and it’s just getting worse. I will attach the ending balances over the past few years. You can only get burned so many times before you stop believing them. It’s frustrating. We want the students of Antioch to have quality educators in every classroom. Our proposals are fair attempts at making that happen. We are by no means trying to break the bank – not even close,” Carson concluded.
The teachers’ rally will be held from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. at the corner of Auto Center Drive and Century Blvd.
the attachments to this post:
2023-24 First AUSD Interim MYP Components of Fund Balance BOE 12-13-23
Teacher Salaries Percent of AUSD Budget
AUSD Unrestricted Ending Balance chart
AUSD funds info AEA FB 2-9-24
EBCSS members with strike signs 020924 AEA FB
AEA Rally for Student Success 2-21-24
