Dear Parents and Community,
Last week Phil Quon sent out a letter to the parents and community of the Cupertino Union School District (CUSD). In this letter he tries to state why the Cupertino Union School District is at impasse. The information Superintendent Quon provides, while not false, is, all to often, full of generalizations and partial truths. We here at CEA want to educate the parents and community members about the WHOLE truth.
THE WHOLE TRUTH
Statement: Teachers receive an average raise of 3% for longevity.
Truth: Some teachers do, but most of our first year teachers and many of our most experienced teachers do not.
For Example: Beginning teachers in CUSD who move from step 1 to step 2 receive $138 increase from the year before. That is not 3% nor is it 6% it is 0.2%. In the first 4 years they receive $515 dollars in step increases which equal up to less than 1% in salary increase.
Teachers who have been in the district for more than 11 years will go 3 years without ever seeing any step increase. That is not 3% nor is it 6% but 0%.
Step and column increases are payment mechanisms to reward teachers for continuing their education which benefits the students of CUSD and keeps experienced teachers in CUSD, thereby providing experience and knowledge to our students in CUSD.
Statement: Teachers receive 6% salary increase for continuing education.
Truth: Many teachers in CUSD go to school and get masters and doctorates. All classes are paid for by the teacher. When a teacher gets a masters degree they are eligible to receive a yearly masters stipend from the district. The stipend to the average salary in CUSD is equal to 2.1%.
Statement: That step and column increases cost the district $1 million dollars.
Truth: The cost of step and column is almost always paid for by teachers. Teacher who retire are almost always on the highest paid step when they retire. The district then hires newer teachers at the lowest or lower salary step. The difference in the highest paid teachers and lowest is used to fund the step and salary increases for the rest of the teachers in the district. For the district to say it cost them money is correct but what is not said is that almost all of the cost is already compensated for by the retiring teachers and the replacement by the newer teachers.
Statement: Cost Of Living Adjustments (COLA) are provided to cover the increases in all annual operating expenses for the district, not just salaries. In addition to employee compensation, these expenses include such things as utilities, fuel, replacement of school buses, and the rising special education costs.
Truth: Cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living. The district receives this money from the state of California to help employees maintain a standard of living. The teachers of CUSD also have to deal with rising fuel costs, rising health care costs, rising food costs, rising rent, and rising utilities. Two years ago in negotiations CUSD came to the teachers and said that they needed money to help pay for new trucks, buses and various electronic equipment to help improve the district. The teachers gladly helped the district do this by giving back a percentage of COLA money to the district. You now have to question where did that money go?
