The possibility of a teacher’s strike is looking more likely.
The Santa Barbara Unified School District and the Santa Barbara Teachers Association were unable to reach an agreement on a new contract after an eight-hour meeting April 10.
It was the second meeting with a state-ordered arbitrator. With no agreement, the process moves to “fact-finding.” Both sides will submit evidence to a panel that will make recommendations for a settlement.
The school district and the union reached an impasse in contract negotiations in January and moved to mediation.
The fact-finding panel consists of three people: a neutral, either appointed by the Public Employment Relations Board, or selected by the parties, and one person selected by each party, according to a statement from the school district.
The panel must meet within 10 days of appointment and must hold a hearing and issue a fact-finding report within 30 days, according to the district’s news release.
If an agreement is not reached from the fact-finding stage, teachers will be legally allowed to strike.
The process typically can take three to six months, but parties could agree to extend timelines or do post-fact-finding negotiations, according to the school district.
Last week, the Santa Barbara Teachers Association presented the district and Board of Trustees with a letter signed by 700 teachers, more than 270 individual signatories and a number of local organizations, including Service Employees International
Union 620, UCSB Democrats, and 34 local businesses.
“Our students deserve educators who can afford to work here, and appropriate supports from all of the employees who touch their lives during the school day,” said SBTA President Hozby Galindo. “In addition to demanding appropriate pay for all SBTA employees, we need to keep pushing back on the cuts the school board has proposed to student services. It is a shameful to suggest these cuts while increasing the already sizeable district reserve.”
Galindo said the district has not created a comprehensive plan nor a competitive salary schedule to attract and retain the educators, which hurts students.
“The district had to hire over 100 positions this school year, some of those positions remain unfilled,” Galindo said. “By not settling negotiations, the district will not have a competitive salary schedule for this hiring cycle.”
He noted that at the most recent school board meeting, presidents from local chapters came to speak in support of Santa Barbara educators and for a living wage.
“They also warned the district that their districts have competitive salary schedules and incentives that attract educators to their districts,” Galindo said.
Santa Barbara Unified said if the parties cannot reach an agreement after the fact-finding process, a “second impasse” is reached.
“It is important for students and families to know that a legal strike typically cannot occur
before the parties have gone through the entire impasse process,” district representatives said. “The district will continue to participate in the impasse process in good faith in order to reach a fair and sustainable agreement for students, staff and the district community.”