|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Mountain View Los Altos High School District school board green-lighted a number of different salary schedules for the upcoming year, including for teachers, non-teaching employees and trustees.
The educators’ raise was part of a union agreement the school board passed 5-0 on June 8. Teachers will make somewhere between $108,686 and $210,707 based on their education level and number of years teaching in the district. Pay also increases when teachers acquire a national board certification, masters degree or doctorate.
Over the past 20 years, the MVLA District Teachers Association union tended to grant raises at and hovering around 4%, DTA President David Campbell told the Mountain View Voice.
However, he said the raise granted this year wasn’t as substantial as the district is accustomed to approving.
The most recent raise schedule is distributed in three different installments. It includes a 0.5% retroactive raise, a 0.5% off-schedule increase and a 2% raise effective July 1. The retroactive raise applies to the year prior, so 2025-26, while the off-schedule increase is a one-off payment. It’s essentially a 2.5% on-schedule increase with a .5 % off-schedule lump sum.
Last year, the district approved a 4% raise. Before then, the district reached a three-year union agreement with 5% increases in each of the 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.
Campbell said the union often “plays the long game,” in regards to salary schedules, and responds accordingly to the local economy. For MVLA – a community-funded district – the impact of decreasing commercial property taxes has caused the district to tighten its belt.
“If there isn’t enough ongoing money, if the property taxes aren’t increasing enough to accommodate a larger increase, we are definitely willing to wait it out … until the economy recovers,” he said.
The board separately approved the same raise schedule for classified, non-teaching employees presented by the California School Employees Association (CSEA).
Leyla Benson, MVLA associate superintendent of personnel services, said the administration’s partnership is strong with both unions. The negotiations process is based on the needs and desires of both parties, she said.
“We feel proud of the rapport that we have with both of our unions, and we appreciate the collaboration,” Benson said. “We believe that we have recruited and retained the best educators and school staff, and we want to continue to be able to make that happen.”
While trustees considered approving a 5% compensation increase for the school board, they voted 3-2 for a 2% compensation increase at a June 8 meeting. Board Vice President Vadim Katz and clerk Alex Levich voted against it.
A raise was “healthy,” Superintendent Eric Volta told the trustees at the meeting, especially when it comes to inflation. For the 2025-26 school year, trustees received $630 monthly. The 2% raise is effective July 1.
“It helps boards in the long run, whether it’s this group or another group,” Volta told trustees.
Volta has yet to receive a raise as the board hasn’t voted on his performance evaluation, he previously told the Voice. His contract runs through June 2028.
