MHUSD teachers receive 6 percent pay raise

The Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers and the Morgan Hill Unified School District got the Board of Education’s stamp of approval Tuesday of a new tentative three-year agreement, which includes a 6 percent salary increase.
After the seven-member board voted unanimously in favor of the new contract, those in attendance gave a round of applause. With the raise, the starting salary for a first-year teacher climbed to just shy of $48,000 with that number rising as credits are earned toward a Master’s degree.
MHUSD will have about 400 full-time equivalent teachers for the 2014-15 school year, according to MHFT President Teresa Sage.
Certificated staff salaries make up about $31.6 million of the district’s budget for the upcoming school year. The proposed 2014-15 budget was also on the June 10 school board agenda. For 2012-13, certificated salaries were at $29.4 million. The new contract takes effect for the 2014-15 school year.
“We are excited to have a tentative agreement and to be moving forward with that,” said Sage, who noted that teachers voted 245-14 to ratify the new deal before it was brought to the board.
“We believe that the district and the board have a desire to make us more competitive (compared to other unified school districts), so we can attract and retain our highly qualified teachers,” Sage continued. “Particularly with the economy getting better, it’s getting harder to keep them.”
At the same meeting, the Board accepted 19 letters of resignation from MHUSD teachers, including eight from Sobrato, seven from Live Oak High School, two from Central High School, and one each from Britton Middle School and Barrett Elementary School.
Sarah Guthrie, the English Department Chair at Sobrato, echoed Sage’s sentiments about the need for competitive salaries.
“I stay at Sobrato because I love it. I think the leadership is amazing and professionally I have a lot of opportunities to grow,” Guthrie said. “But we see a lot of teachers leaving, a lot of amazing teachers, to get paid better elsewhere.”
Sage said other sticking points to improve upon include teacher health care benefits, where the Ann Sobrato High School teacher pays $1,375 per month for a family plan at Kaiser Permanente.
“It’s something we’ve got to look at when families are paying that price for Kaiser,” Sage said. “We’ve got to take a look at that. But it is a very complex problem.”
Guthrie said, in this current hiring season, the English department has made several offers to candidates that were declined. One candidate who accepted an offer backed out after finding a job with another district.
“We’re really struggling to get high quality teachers in our department,” Guthrie said. “There are a lot of young teachers who can’t afford to live here on this one salary.”
Other components to the new contract that runs through 2015 include:
—Increase in work days from 183 to 185 with addition of two professional development days;
—Class size reduction for grades kindergarten through third; and
—Class size capacity from 55 to 50 for secondary physical education classes.
Salaries for first-year credentialed teachers at some other school districts in county
Fremont Unified $55,963
Santa Clara Unified $51,640
Los Gatos Saratoga Union $51,204
Milpitas Unified $51,514
East Side Union 49,378
San Jose Unified $48,588
Morgan Hill Unified $47,967
Gilroy Unified $45,781