Memorandums of understanding between the William S. Hart Union High School District and its employee unions regarding salaries are up for approval at Wednesday’s governing board meeting.
Both the Hart District Teachers Association and the California School Employees Association Chapter 349 are set to enter into MOUs with the district that would protect employees in case the cost-of-living adjustment from the state is greater than 2.5%.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a $297.9 billion spending plan last month that calls for a 1.07% COLA for school districts. The initial budget proposal in January had larger cuts to school funding, but $5.5 billion of that was delayed until future years, as reported by CalMatters.
According to Mia Reed, president of the CSEA chapter, salaries were not included in the sunshine proposals for 2024-25, set to be approved at Wednesday’s meeting as well, due to the expected low COLA. However, should the COLA rise to 2.5% or higher, the MOU would allow for salaries to be negotiated.
The salary negotiations would have to be opened no later than Dec. 31, according to the MOU draft.
The HDTA and the district had previously approved the sunshine proposals for the 2024-25 negotiating sessions.
Not part of Wednesday’s meeting is a tentative agreement between the CSEA chapter and the district. The two sides struck an agreement that calls for 2% salary increases for classified employees and 2% one-time payments.
The agreement would be retroactive to July 1, 2023.
That agreement, initially on the agenda, is being pushed back to the Aug. 21 meeting due to the Los Angeles County Office of Education needing to sign off on the appropriate forms prior to full ratification from the governing board, according to Collyn Nielsen, assistant superintendent of human resources.
This is the second tentative agreement reached by the two sides. Earlier this year, both the HDTA and the CSEA chapter struck agreements following months of negotiations, though only the HDTA agreement was ratified by the board.
The CSEA chapter’s agreement was not valid at the time, according to Reed, as the chapter had yet to sunshine the articles for negotiations for the 2024-25 school year.
Also on the agenda for Wednesday are items concerning the appointment of an assistant principal and recognizing the Hart High School Winterguard’s trophy-laden season.
The Hart team won the Winter Guard Association of Southern California Division SA championship earlier this year. According to the agenda, that competition is seen as the de facto Southern California championships.
Including that title, the team picked up three gold medals during competition season, the first time since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic that the squad competed at multiple competitions.
Wednesday’s meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the district’s administrative office, located at 21380 Centre Pointe Parkway.
