Union to Seek Mediator : 3 Issues Stall San Diego Teacher Contract Talks

Contract talks between the San Diego Unified School District and the San Diego Teachers Assn. reached an impasse Friday, stalled by disagreements over how to spend the district’s share of future lottery money, a proposed no-strike clause and teacher demands for class size limits.

The union representing 6,000 teachers decided to ask the state Public Employee Relations Board to assign a mediator after learning that district negotiators would not alter an offer made last week, Executive Director John Felicitas said. Ann Stombs, chief negotiator for the district, had declared the talks at an impasse in September.

Lottery revenues are a major obstacle. The school district proposes to use the money to offer teachers salary bonuses over the life of a three-year contract, depending on the revenue received from the lottery each year. The teachers’ union wants the payments spelled out in the contract for three years.

“Bonus money is one time. It is a one-time shot,” Felicitas said. “It doesn’t include money that would be in their pockets each year.” Teachers want the lottery money used to limit class sizes during the first year of a proposed three-year contract and spent on pay raises in the second and third years.

But Stombs said the school district cannot offer guaranteed pay raises from lottery funds without knowing how much the district will receive each year. “It’s just guesstimates,” she said. “It could be our savior or it could be pie in the sky.”

Union President Gail Boyle projected that the district will receive about $93 for each of its 110,000 students. The district is using an estimate of $50 per student, Stombs said.

Overall, the district is proposing a 7.5% increase the first year, a 6.5% to 7.5% increase the second year and a 4% to 6% increase the third year. Bonuses of 1% to 2% would be added each year. According to district figures, the average teacher makes $29,109 a year.

Should contract talks be reopened in the future, teachers want the right to strike. The district wants a no-strike clause in the contract. There was a no-strike clause in the contract that has expired.

The union also wants the district to fund a health plan for retirees, who now must buy their health coverage because they are ineligible for Medicare. It is also calling for specific limits on class enrollments, to replace the system of average maximums now used by the district.

Teachers, who have been working without a contract since June 30, are planning a rally at the Board of Education’s weekly meeting Tuesday and will begin picketing school board members’ homes during the week before Thanksgiving, Felicitas said.