Burbank teachers, district avoid conflict, agree to 1% raise
A year ago, the Burbank Teachers Assn., or BTA, and Burbank Unified’s negotiating team were at odds over compensation, punctuated by marches and speeches, which prolonged an eventual deal.
Fast-forward 12 months, and rancor was replaced with responsiveness and realism as the board voted 5-0 during a meeting on Thursday to approve a 1% raise for teachers for the just-concluded school year, retroactive to July 1, 2018.
“The negotiated agreement with BTA, I’m happy to say, we actually closed in the calendar year that we were negotiating, so that’s exciting,” said district negotiating representative Sarah Neimann, the district’s assistant superintendent of human resources.
The 1% hike marks the second pay increase the union secured for its nearly 900 members within eight months. Two previous years of negotiations ended last October with a 2% raise retroactive to July 2017.
“We’re doing our best as we realize that medical costs continue to rise, housing costs continue to rise and yet salaries don’t continue to rise,” school board member Steve Ferguson said. “Working with us to get to a quick agreement took a lot of leadership on both sides, and I just very much appreciate the [association’s] members.”
The salary increases are still somewhat rare for longtime district educators who went without a pay raise between 2007 and 2014 and dealt with furloughs.
Burbank teachers remain some of the poorest compensated in the county, as stated in a report last summer from the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
Burbank Unified’s educators were listed 45th out of 47 districts countywide in total raises over the previous three years for teachers with credentials and last in smallest gross total of dollars spent.
“There’s this acknowledgement that it’s not where both of us would like to be, but under the circumstances I think that we were just happy to come to a conclusion,” said Diana Abasta, the teacher association’s president.
Burbank teachers asked for a 3% raise in February. David Jaynes, the district’s retiring assistant superintendent of administrative services, presented a report in March, saying the district’s reserves would drop to “basically zero” within two school years with as little as a 2% raise.
Staff members verified the district could still pay bills and maintain a state-mandated 3% reserve with a 1% pay raise.
“I’d just like to add my ‘thank you’ as well to both [Neimann and Abasta] and her team for coming to an agreement and working as such incredible, collaborative partners,” said Roberta Reynolds, school board president.
A renewed cooperation between district and union negotiators may have been forged because of events that have occurred since the last contract agreement in October.
Teachers and district staff campaigned diligently, and many were distraught after the district’s proposed 10-cents-per-square foot parcel tax, known as Measure QS, lost by 938 votes in November.
The district lost out on over $9 million annually from the parcel tax, while teachers were denied a one-time 3% salary hike that would have become effective on July 1.
Abasta and Supt. Matt Hill showed solidarity in their support for striking Los Angeles Unified teachers in January, while in May both officials and some board members marched in the RedforEd event in Sacramento to support securing more state funding for education.
“At this point, the only way it’s going to happen is with us working together,” Abasta said. “People are surprised to see the union president and the superintendent and board members together, but that’s in everyone’s interest.”
While closed negotiations on Thursday between the district and BTA were successful, Burbank Unified has not yet finalized deals with local chapters of the Assn. for School Administrators and the California School Employees Assn.
