The Orange County School Board met to decide an impasse between Orange County Schools and the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association on Wednesday.
The teachers union declared an impasse in its negotiations with the district in September, after failing to agree on a salary increase and other benefits for teachers.
The district offered 1.9% raises, while the union requested a more than 3% raise.
The union also requested a reduction in paperwork for teachers, protections for nursing mothers, paid parental leave, and permanent supplements in pay for veteran and other specialized teachers, including special ed teachers.
The deliberations lasted over ten hours, with lawyers for both sides presenting two hours of testimony and arguments each.
The School Board voted to stick with the 1.9% pay raise for teachers, along with a district-wide evaluation system for teachers.
Board members also voted against the union’s request for paid parental leave and expanding supplements for veteran and special ed teachers.
Watch the full school board meeting here:
Member Maria Salamanca said she regretted not being able to give teachers a bigger raise but the money isn’t in the budget due to rising inflation and fewer state dollars. She said approving a bigger raise could lead to staff cuts.
“I got a really scary number of cutting 400 staff, if I go with the bigger salary, and I have to balance this compensation with maintaining the staffing and resources. Our teachers are already drowning,” Salamanca said.
Board member Karen Castor Dentel said she’s also frustrated that the board doesn’t have the money in the budget to approve more than a 2% raise.
She said that’s due to more state dollars going to private and religious schools, instead of public ones.
“So that's for students who never attended our public schools, kids who were already paying for private school. Now they get the voucher. So those challenges are real,” Castor Dentel said.
The board did vote to approve a request to put additional protections in place for nursing mothers who need to pump during the school day. The new policy requires schools to provide a private place to pump and the time to do so.
Last school year, Orange County Schools provided teachers with what it called historic 9% raises that were the result of an impasse hearing.
But teachers argued that those raises were still not enough to keep up with rising inflation and the localized affordable housing crisis.
The current contract between the teachers union and district expired in June.
Read the full proposal that was approved by the board last night (with the exception of policies for nursing mothers):
