Burlingame teachers rally

Faced with a projected deficit, the district has offered to provide teachers with a 1% raise on top of their existing salary scale. On the opposite side, the union has asked for a 5% salary increase with the first fiscal year and 4% increases in subsequent years, pointing to an influx of state funding and the district’s reserves as proof the funds are available. 

The district is also offering each teacher a one-time bonus worth $2,000, drawn from the money paid by the state because campuses were reopened amid the pandemic. But Brian McManus, teacher union president and educator of 27 years, said offers to increase standing stipends have come off the table. 

“Teachers went above and beyond the call of duty last year,” McManus said. “Just because we got into the profession to serve, which is historically a low paying profession, and because we found it as our calling doesn’t mean we need to live below the poverty line.” 

Rallying and undervalued

With negotiations still unresolved, teachers and supporters opted to rally on Thursday, starting in front of the Burlingame Train Station and marching down Burlingame Avenue with hopes of gaining additional support for their efforts. 

Burlingame School District’s salary scale offers to pay teachers between $49,600 to first year uncredentialed employees and $100,000 to 20-year teachers with a substantially advanced education background. On average, teachers receive a 3.6% raise each year as they move through the pay scale along with bonuses depending on education level, the district has argued. 

But McManus notes that highly educated teachers with years of experience are still earning far below the county’s median income level of $149,000 for a family of four and $104,700 for an individual. 

Geneva Perdomo, a teacher at McKinley Elementary School for 21 years and vice president of teachers union, said she fell in love with the community when she began student teaching at the site. Her appreciation for the school has motivated her to stay and to enroll both her children, ages 6 and 8, into classes there. 

But the hard fought negotiations have made her feel undervalued, particularly after spending 16 months teaching through the pandemic, she said. 

“The last year and a half have been the most challenging in my career so to feel not valued in these times is disheartening,” Perdomo said. 

Denise Fabris, a middle school teacher at Burlingame Intermediate School and educator of 28 years, said she too feels underappreciated during the negotiations after teachers put in overtime and passed on a pay increase during the pandemic. 

Fabris said she had to rewrite her entire science based lessons which normally required a great amount of interaction. Once she accomplished her move online she eventually had to grade thousands of assignments virtually and juggle hybrid lessons with students learning in person and at home. 

While the three teachers have been able to adapt and have a long history with the district, they fear newer educators have been burnt out after the recent school years. Without the raises, they suggested staff will be less likely to remain and argue nearly 50 educators have already left the district this year alone. 

“It’s not what we deserve. It’s what we earned,” Fabris said. “If our working environment is not that really great, their learning experience won't be that great.”

Fact disputes

Responding to assertions from the district that it provides one of the best salary scales, McManus said the district falls somewhere in between when compared to the other 27 school districts in the area. 

The union also argues that teachers and administrators are being unequally treated by the district given that a 3.6% annual raise was written into the three-year contracts of two administrators. The district has argued that the figure only aligns the contract increases with those already promised to teachers, sidestepping the need for negotiations. 

“We don't negotiate for administrators, we negotiate for ourselves,” McManus said. 

Still, the district has argued that as a publicly funded district, it receives some of the fewest federal dollars compared to other districts, especially those under basic aid. And the years of funding salary raises and competitive school programs has left the district in financial uncertainty.  

To combat a projected $2 million deficit in two future fiscal years, board members approved $1.3 million in cuts comprised mostly of eliminating vacant positions to keep the budget reductions away from the classroom in March.

If the district were to accommodate the union’s demands, it would see salary expenses increase by nearly $1 million a year for teachers alone. The district has argued paying for the increased salary obligations from one-time funds such as it’s reserve fund, currently sitting at about 12%, would be irresponsible spending. 

And while the union asserts the district has experienced a substantial teacher exodus, district staff have reported to the Board of Trustees that it’s only seen a turnover rate of 13% district wide. Any cuts made by the district were to nonclassroom staff. 

Despite the heated debate, Superintendent Chris Mount-Benites, whom educators largely blame for the “confrontational” negotiations, previously called for faith in the procedure that exists to resolve contract negotiating strife.

“Everybody step back from it. Let the process work its way, that’s what a process is for,” he said. “And we’ll see where we end up.”

sierra@smdailyjournal.com 

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106