Santa Barbara Unified School District Gives Teachers and Staff a Raise

More than a hundred Santa Barbara Unified employees rallied for better wages and benefits this year, and it seems their financial woes did not fall on deaf ears. As of Friday, June 2, the school district’s staff will be getting the pay bumps they protested for. 

Unlike the two union rallies earlier this year — which had the district office overflowing with disgruntled teachers — the boardroom was practically empty for Friday’s special meeting of the Board of Education. The agenda was short and sweet: approval of the pay raise and stipend proposed by Superintendent Dr. Hilda Maldonado and her staff.

Salaried employees — including all classified, certificated non-management, confidential, and management staff — will now be receiving a 4 percent raise next year. In addition, all staff will be getting a one-time $1,000 bonus to help with inflation and health-care costs in either September or December 2023 (depending on their position and number of hours worked).

The Santa Barbara Teachers Association (SBTA) and California School Employees Association (CSEA) were already guaranteed a 2 percent raise next year through their 2021-2024 contracts, but argued that it was not enough to meet the current rate of inflation nor the high cost of living in Santa Barbara.

In their rallies for increased wages, union members originally asked the district to reopen salary negotiations before their current three-year contract expired. However, both the raise and one-time stipend were decided on unilaterally by the district, which has maintained its distance from the bargaining table since the contracts went into effect.

SBTA president Joyce Adriansen thanked the board for “hearing the needs of Santa Barbara Unified School District staff” and working with them to find a way to increase salaries while still “adhering to [their] agreements.” She called the extra 2 percent increase and $1,000 stipend a “start in the right direction to help ease the financial burdens of all of our staff,” while placing the slightest emphasis on the word “start.”

Each boardmember took time to return the thanks to Adriansen and CSEA representative Ken Rivas — the only two to speak during public comment. They also expressed deep gratitude for the labor-intensive budget deep-dive orchestrated by assistant superintendent of business services Kim Hernandez and assistant superintendent of human resources John Becchio.

“I was so impressed by the level of care that I experienced from our cabinet staff … about truly understanding the humanity in this topic,” said Boardmember Gabe Escobedo. “Yes, this is a step in the right direction. And yes, we know, there’s more that needs to be done. But I can tell you that a lot of work was put in.” 

The cabinet’s task was to figure out how to shuffle money from the district’s general and one-time funds allocated in this year’s budget to pay for the raise and stipend. 

To summarize, it came down to expanding their fiscal team, making complicated budget calculations, moving money around, and adjusting for current, actual costs of expenses like utilities and special education to essentially “find” the money they needed. They capped the raise at 4 percent, Hernandez said, due to uncertainty over whether property tax revenues for the district will meet the 5 percent increase projected for the next year.

Overall, it’ll cost the district $5.4 million and some change to cover their 1,966 employees. 

Hernandez called the effort an “unprecedented path to be able to give our employees more money as a bridge to the successor contract,” which will be negotiated anew in the 2024-2025 school year. 

“I want to thank the board for providing us exciting challenges to keep our budget solvent, not have our district go into a position where we won’t be able to meet our bills, and, at the same time, make sure that we take care of our employees as they take care of our students,” Maldonado said.