The Saugus Union School District struck tentative agreements with the teachers’ union and the classified employees’ union Wednesday ahead of their contracts expiring at the end of June, according to Superintendent Colleen Hawkins.
The tentative agreements call for 1% on-schedule and 1% off-schedule payments for both the Saugus Teachers Association and the California School Employees Association Chapter 112, which represents classified employees, Hawkins said.
The salary increases are retroactive to July 2023. The tentative agreements are set to be brought to the governing board for final approval at its June 26 meeting.
“SUSD leadership, the governing board and cabinet, are satisfied that our collaboration with our labor partners on the salary negotiations has reached a conclusion for this school year,” Hawkins wrote in a statement sent to The Signal. “While we always want to provide as much as possible to our labor partners, the current budget crisis at the state level has made it difficult for the second-lowest funded district in L.A. County, SUSD, to provide more than the 1% on and 1% off-schedule increase this year. We hope that California will see better financial increases in the future that will allow school districts to provide additional compensation to their teachers and classified staff. We thank the leadership of STA and CSEA for their unwavering advocacy of their unit members and for their collaboration during the negotiation season.”
A request for comment from an STA representative was not immediately returned on Friday.
Delmy Calderon, president of the CSEA chapter, said this was the district’s last and final offer. In an email to CSEA members, Sylvia Arnone, vice president of the CSEA chapter, said it was not the offer that the union wanted, but it was the only one that was being offered.
“We have fought hard to obtain a cost-of-living adjustment and are extremely disappointed along with all of you by this outcome,” Arnone wrote. “We would never agree to such a low offer, but the district gave us no other acceptable options. The only other option was to receive nothing.”
The CSEA chapter is set to vote on ratifying the tentative agreement Thursday.
Both unions have been demanding raises for months in the hopes of striking deals prior to the contracts expiring at the end of the month. Hawkins previously stated the district was waiting for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May Revise to come out before extending formal offers to both unions.
Board President Matt Watson sent the following statement to The Signal: “We are pleased that we were able to reach an agreement and are looking forward to our teachers and staff being able to relax and enjoy their summer.”
