Remember, every time we receive a salary adjustment that is less than COLA (cost of living) we are taking a pay cut. Yucaipa-Calimesa teachers are not being greedy, we're just trying to keep our heads above water.613 days without a settlement!
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The real question is not whether we deserve COLA (we do), but why a Yucaipa teacher is worth so much less than teachers in other districts? Opinion pieces published in the News-Mirror seem to support the position that we are already adequately compensated for what we do. If this is the case, how do we explain the fact that our pay continues to fall further and further behind that of other local districts? The money is NOT being spent in the classroom; the 1.2 million additional for the district's lawyers represents a 4% raise for every employee in the district. At YHS, our principal spends thousands on our Distinguished School application, ten thousand on artificial turf that was supposed to be funded by donations; and our department budgets remain cut to levels that were the result of the budget crisis a few years ago. I can see no tangible evidence of the over 18% total in budget increases our district has seen in the past two years. Why? I continue to be amazed that we are painted as greedy for wanting our share of record increases in the school budget, when most other local districts have been able to settle their contracts amicably.
You know what I don't understand? When the school district needed money for a football field, they found it. When they needed money to pay their attorneys more, they found it. When they needed money for new maintenance vehicles, they found it. Why can't they find it for us? Why have we had to fight almost every year for 10 years? Double Digit Fully Retro, does that sound familiar? My kids think every time mommy gets a raise it's because they picketed. That's becoming sad to me.
It's not about money, it's about priorities, and we are demonstrably last on their list of priorities.
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