BUSD approves new contract with district teachers

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The Bonsall Unified School District board approved a new collective bargaining agreement with the Bonsall Teachers Association.

The agreement approved Wednesday, Nov. 16, on a 4-0 vote with Michael Gaddis absent includes a 6.5% raise for the teachers from the 2021-2022 salary schedule along with an additional 1% off-schedule salary increase. The increase as well as the rest of the collective bargaining agreement is for the 2022-2023 school year, and the agreement also creates an advisory committee which will explore and create a mutually agreeable salary schedule for 2023-2024 which will be brought back to the district and BTA bargaining teams.

“We value the teachers,” BUSD superintendent Joseph Clevenger said.

The collective bargaining agreement begins when negotiations between BUSD staff and BTA representatives produce a tentative collective bargaining agreement. That tentative agreement must be ratified by the BTA members, and it is then brought to the BUSD board for approval.

“This is now final,” Clevenger said.

In addition to the base salary increase, a BTA member who teaches an additional course or serves in a specialized planning or coordinating assignment providing specialized support to the school or district will be compensated by an additional one-fifth, or 20%, of their salary for a six-period day.

The agreement also increases the district’s maximum medical contribution for eligible BTA members. The maximum contribution is now $5,000 rather than $4,500 above the employee-only benefit rate for health maintenance organization coverage. If both parents are BUSD certificated staff members the contribution towards family medical, dental or vision coverage increases from $9,000 to $10,000.

The previous agreement allowed for a “leave bank” in which teachers or other bargaining unit members may donate leave time for a unit member who needs additional sick leave due to a catastrophic illness or event. Only members who donate during the designated period are eligible to be recipients of leave bank time. Members can donate up to half of their annual sick leave. The previous agreement required members to donate at least one day per year, and members can now donate at least one day every three years. The changes also call for requests for such leave to be reviewed by a leave bank committee consisting of three BTA representatives chosen by the BTA and two district representatives.

The number of days teachers but not students must be present at the school increases from three to four. Two of those are during the school year while the number of days before the start of instruction will increase from one to two. One of the days prior to the start of school will be for district-led professional development while the other will be for uninterrupted preparation time. That increases the number of school days for BTA members from 183 to 184 for returning teachers and 184 to 185 to new hires. School counselors will have their time on campus increased from 193 to 194 days.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].