H.B. City School District teachers rally for higher pay, lower class sizes

The intersection of Adams Avenue and Brookhurst Street was noisier than usual during rush-hour traffic Tuesday evening as demonstrators called for a pay increase for teachers and more-equitable class sizes

As about 200 Huntington Beach City School District teachers and community members gathered on the corner, drivers honked their horns and gave thumbs-up signals in support. Each time a car horn honked, the crowd on the sidewalk erupted in cheers. Protesting teachers donned red T-shirts with white lettering on the back that read “United we stand.”

District officials and the union representing its teachers began negotiating the teachers’ contract for fiscal 2015-16 in October. Since then, the sides have met several times but have not been able to agree about a pay increase and a way to divide classes.

Huntington Beach Elementary Teachers Assn. President Kathy Hogan, a sixth-grade teacher at Isaac L. Sowers Middle School, said the teachers are asking for a 5% salary increase, the same raise they received for the 2014-15 fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Before that, teachers had not received a pay increase since 2006, Hogan said.

The district is offering a 3% salary increase, saying that rising expenses in the form of an increase in employer contributions to health benefits, an increase in contributions to the state teachers retirement program and upcoming expenditures associated with the new Common Core curriculum limit how much it can offer teachers.

Supt. Gregg Haulk said the proposed 3% raise, along with last year’s increase, are the largest by any elementary school district in Orange County in recent years.

“We feel the raise we are offering is more than fair,” he said.

Hogan pointed to Gov. Jerry Brown’s most recent state budget proposal, which would send about $68.4 billion to public schools in the coming fiscal year — an increase from the $65.7 billion he proposed in January.

“They [district officials] have enough money to pay us a fair salary increase,” Hogan said.

The union also is seeking a commitment from the district to cap class sizes. Hogan said some classes have as many as 36 students, while others in the same grade level have relatively few.

“You want to meet the needs of every individual, but when you have that many students it’s very difficult,” Hogan said. “This is where we need to set the foundation for our students as they continue through our school system.”

The district recently declared an impasse in the negotiations, meaning a state mediator will meet with the groups to try to facilitate a compromise. The district isn’t sure when that will happen.

“We think it’s beneficial that a third party come in and look at both sides,” Haulk said.