Paso Robles teachers demand pay raise after years of stagnant wages, rising living costs
More than 100 teachers, parents and community members lined the sidewalk outside the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District administration buildings on Niblick Road Tuesday evening to rally for better pay.
Starting at about 5 p.m., the boisterous crowd held signs that said things like “Students can’t come first when teachers are put last,” “Pay my teacher a fair wage,” and “5%,” and cheered when passing cars honked.
Many wore red shirts with the phrase: “More than praise, teachers need a raise.”
“We want the district to hear loud and clear that we are here for students, but we are also here for a livable wage,” said Melena Smirl, a fifth-grade teacher at Pat Butler Elementary School.
Teachers in the North County district say they have not received a salary increase in three years — during which the general cost of living and their healthcare costs have risen.
“We’re just asking for a cost-of-living increase,” said Kate Luster, a first-grade teacher at Kermit King Elementary School. “Our gas is going up. Our food is going up. Everything in the world is going up except for our pay.”
Kristin Usilton, who teaches at Glen Speck Elementary School, said she doesn’t know any of her colleagues in the district who are not working multiple jobs outside of teaching.
Usilton said she sells skin care products for Rodan + Fields, babysits, tutors, bartends for a nonprofit and does “whatever else to make ends meet.”
Justin Pickard — a teacher at Paso Robles High School and the president of the Paso Robles Public Educators, the school district’s California Teachers Association union chapter — said the rally before the school board meeting was to raise awareness of the dire need and community support for the wage increase.
The union is in salary negotiations with the school district, he said, which he hopes to be the first successful negotiations for higher wages in several years.
How Paso Robles teachers’ pay compares
The most recent data from the California Department of Education show that Paso Robles teachers were, on average, the fourth-highest paid in the county in the 2019-20 school year among the nine school districts who sent data to the state. Data for San Miguel Joint Union School District was unavailable.
Paso Robles teachers were paid an average salary of $71,640 in the 2019-20 school year, according to the state’s data. That’s slightly more than Lucia Mar Unified teachers, who were paid $70,945, and slightly less than Templeton Unified teachers, who were paid $72,841 that same year, according to the data.
Most districts in the county have given teachers raises in the past couple of years.
For example, Templeton Unified teachers received a 2.2% salary increase for the 2019-20 school year compared to the year prior.
Only Paso Robles Joint Unified and Shandon Joint Unified did not give teachers a raise that year, according to the state’s data.
Where money for raises could come from
Pickard noted that there are two main reasons why he and other teachers feel “the offers thus far for salary have been less than acceptable.”
First, the school district, like all districts in the state, received a 5.07% cost of living adjustment from the state. That COLA, as it’s called, increased the school district’s budget by more than 5% compared to last year’s budget to compensate for the rising expense costs for schools in California.
Second, the school district had about a 15% reserve in its budget, or about $14.3 million in savings, as of June.
Due to state regulations, the school district can only have a 10% budget reserve. Therefore, the school district must spend several million dollars to reach that budget reserve.
Pickard said he wants the COLA and the extra reserve money to go to teacher salaries. Additionally, he hopes to see the teacher health benefits costs be capped and longevity bonuses for teachers who have been in the district for many years.
It’s not an easy request, Pickard acknowledged.
“The district still has the priority of maintaining its financial responsibility,” he said. “I think coming out of a timeframe of a lot of uncertainty, a lot of change that was very negative — with overspending from previous administrations — there’s a lot of hesitancy to approve ongoing costs.”
Pickard referenced the previous school district administration’s mismanagement of funds and lack of financial oversight that caused the district’s budget reserve to dip below 1% and prompted the resignation of former Superintendent Chris Williams.
Declining enrollment reduces district’s revenue
School district officials in the Tuesday board meeting said that they’re worried about how declining enrollment will impact the budget down the road.
For several years, Paso Robles Joint Unified — along with most school districts in San Luis Obispo County and across the state — has seen fewer students enroll and show up to class.
The Paso Robles school district is down 221 students from the previous school year, and it’s expecting to lose another 59 students next year, plus 114 students the year after that.
For school districts in San Luis Obispo County, losing one kid typically translates to a loss of roughly $10,000 in state funding.
So far, districts haven’t felt that loss due to a “hold harmless” from the state allowing them to receive funding for their 2019-20 school year enrollment counts.
The Tribune attempted multiple times to reach district officials for comment regarding the teacher salary increase demands but was unsuccessful.
Usilton, the teacher at Glen Speck Elementary School, said the union has negotiations with the school district scheduled for later this month.
“I’m going to be here every board meeting, fighting for teachers,” she said. “We’re all exhausted. We’re so tired. But we’re ready. Something’s going to happen.”
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 1:34 PM.
