Shoreline Unified District and teachers suspend contract negotiations

The Shoreline Unified School District administration and the teachers union have called off collective bargaining talks for the summer after the two sides failed to reach agreement on wage increases.

The last bargaining session was held on May 23 to discuss a proposed three-year contract between the union, the 46-member Shoreline Education Association and the district. No further meetings are scheduled until the fall.

Tina Righetti, a member of the union’s negotiating team, said their final demand was a flat pay raise of $20,000 per person for 2024-25 and 5 percent each for 2025-26 and 2026-27. The $20,000 would mean a raise of about 5 percent for the highest-paid teachers and about 7.2 percent for entry-level teachers, Righetti said.

The union is also demanding an increase in starting salary from $34,000 to $50,000 for its three preschool teachers, who are in a separate category and are not technically union members.

“We are a school district in Marin County,” he said. “We try to be in the middle of the pack, but right now we are 13th out of 17 school districts in Marin in terms of pay.”

Righetti said the district offered a flat rate of $3,000 per teacher plus a 2.5 percent increase in 2024-25 and 3 percent increases in 2025-26 and 2026-27.

“We have a lot of openings,” Righetti said. “People are taking jobs in other districts that pay better.” She said there are seven openings.

Righetti said her team considered declaring an impasse but then decided to take time over the summer to survey members about their concerns.

District Manager Adam Jennings said he was not discouraged by the last round of collective bargaining. It was “productive, but we are still far apart on salaries.”

“We ended on a positive and hopeful note and set dates to continue our discussions in September after a relaxing summer,” Jennings said.

Jennings said there are only three vacancies: two teaching positions that have been open since March and one speech therapist position.

“The total compensation Shoreline offers teachers is competitive in Marin and Sonoma counties,” Jennings said. “As a result, Shoreline has often had no problem attracting highly qualified teachers.”

Jennings would not confirm the details of his offer, saying he believes negotiations should remain confidential. He said the district is offering “a salary and benefit increase that the district can afford while maintaining our student programs and meeting our financial obligations.”

The district’s $19.3 million budget is “fairly balanced” for 2023-24, and Jennings said it needs to stay that way.

According to the union, the problem is the growing shortage of affordable housing in western Marin and the surrounding areas because many apartments have been converted into vacation rentals.

“The latest report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development shows that the average cost of a one-bedroom apartment in Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties is $2,818 per month,” Righetti said. “That’s nearly $34,000 per year in rent alone.”

Additionally, the district’s schools are geographically dispersed, meaning commute times can range from 45 minutes to an hour depending on the school and where you live. The district serves approximately 500 students at Bodega Bay Elementary School, West Marin-Inverness School, Tomales Elementary School, and Tomales High School.

Courtney Raffaelli, another member of the union’s negotiating team, said she was struggling to pay rising gas prices for a 30-plus minute commute from Sonoma County and a $2,400 monthly rent.

“Teaching is my passion and I love what I do,” Raffaelii said. “I have a certificate and a master’s degree, but I live paycheck to paycheck because my salary does not reflect the effort and level of education that I and many others bring to this job.”

However, Jennings said that if most staff members, including himself, were unable to find housing in western Marin, they were able to find relatively nearby accommodations in Sonoma County. He estimated that the average employee commute time is a half-hour, depending on the school location.

“Most of our staff commutes from nearby Sonoma County cities such as Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, although some live closer to the city limits in western Marin,” he said.

“It’s important to understand that while life in Marin and Sonoma may be more expensive than other parts of California, the state distributes basic funding equally across all counties regardless of cost of living,” Jennings said.

The district must maintain a minimum amount of reserves under state law, typically ranging from 4% to 17% depending on funding factors. Large increases in the first year of a contract may be affordable, but the district must demonstrate to the Marin County Office of Education that cumulative increases over three years will not jeopardize the district’s minimum amount of reserves and thus not jeopardize the budget’s positive status.