Teacher negotiations begin May 12 Teacher negotiations begin May 12 (April 23, 2004)

Tight budget could mean intense bargaining for new contract

The Mountain View-Whisman School District will kick off negotiations with its teachers May 12, just days before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hands down a revised state budget.

The goal is to get a new three-year contract settled before the current one expires June 30, but district administrators have indicated their tight budget currently has no money for teacher raises, and some speculate that negotiations with the Mountain View Educators Association could last until November.

Representatives of the district and the teachers' union got a chance to voice their wants and expectations for the upcoming contract talks during a hearing before the school board last week. At the top of both lists was an underlying commitment to student success, which will no doubt be at the heart of the negotiations.

Lead union negotiator Gloria Valdez outlined six key points in the association's initial proposal to the district. These are issues the union wishes to discuss during contract talks, and beside student success, they include: teacher hours, assignments and reassignments, class size reduction, religious holiday leaves and salary adjustments.

"We would like to look at something that is fair and reasonable for a salary adjustment," said Valdez, a first-grade teacher at Castro Elementary.

In addition, Valdez said, the union wants to look at improving health and welfare benefits and address concerns over the definition of "highly qualified teachers," the term for certified, competent teachers under the Bush administration's education accountability act.

Good news from Sacramento next month could mean more money for state school districts, but until then, Mountain View-Whisman finance chief Rebecca Wright said she is playing with a "very murky" crystal ball.

"We want to maintain a healthy relationship with teachers," said Associate Superintendent Eleanor Yick, adding that all the things brought up by the union were issues that the district, too, would like to discuss.

This will be the first new contract for the teachers since the Mountain View and Whisman school districts merged in 2001. There are about 440 members in the union.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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