Carpinteria Unified Teachers and Staff March for Better Pay

School Employees’ Union and School District Working Through Mediation After Reaching Impasse Six Months Ago

Carpinteria Teachers crowded the street corners of Carpinteria and Linden avenues on Friday to protest for better pay. | Credit: Callie Fausey

Dozens of school employees marched through Carpinteria’s streets for better pay on Friday.

Tensions are rising as contract negotiations with the Carpinteria Unified School District (CUSD) drag on. Despite 19 months at the bargaining table, teachers and staff have yet to see a raise in salary.

Starting at different school sites, the marchers eventually gathered at the busy intersection of Carpinteria and Linden avenues. Frustration was written on signs at each street corner, reading, “This is NOT Carpinteria!” and “Pay reflects priorities.” Supportive honks filled the air.

Diana Morales, a teacher at Carpinteria Middle School, currently commutes from Oxnard. “If we were to be paid what we deserve, I would consider living in the community … which would really help my students,” Morales said.

Her colleague, teacher Elizabeth Poulin, explained she lives paycheck to paycheck, struggling with the rising cost of living while working to stay close to the school. Many others report relying on second jobs to make ends meet.

Their union, called the Carpinteria Association of Unified School Employees (CAUSE), reached an impasse with the school district six months ago.

Union president Jay Hotchner said the parties have not met face to face since June, and trust is lacking on both sides.

“We’re not looking each other in the eye and figuring out how we can get to a reasonable agreement, so that has been a really dysfunctional process,” he said. “Their recent proposal was — I can characterize it: It was not at all serious.”

Prior to the impasse, the district’s last best offer was a 2 percent raise, but the union shot it down, Hotchner said. While he did not share a specific number, Hotchner said a “good agreement” would include contingencies for the future, planning for fairly distributing funds if more come in or “sharing the pain” should it not.

Science teacher Elizabeth Poulin holds a sign saying “Missing 3,500,000,” referring the amount by which the district underpaid teachers below the state requirement last school year. | Credit: Callie Fausey

Hotchner added that median teacher salaries across CUSD schools are 14 percent below the state average.

Additionally, California law requires districts to spend 55 percent of their budget on teacher salaries. However, last year, CUSD spent only 46.6 percent of its budget on teacher pay, putting it under by a little more than $3.5 million, according to the district’s 23-24 audit of its expenses.

Carpinteria is a basic aid district, meaning it is primarily funded by local property taxes but receives federal funds for certain areas, like special education.

Hotchner said the district has lost 70 employees since January 2024, many of whom were in the special education department.

During the district’s January 28 board meeting, Special Education Director Carolyn Haines told the board that a shortage of instructors and increased costs were putting a major strain on the department. Combatting high turnover should be a priority, Haines said.

Amid all of this, the board approved raises for district leadership. Superintendent Diana Rigby confirmed that non-union employees received a 3-5 percent salary increase in July 2023 and a 2 percent increase in June 2024.

Regarding CAUSE, important bargaining issues remain unresolved, including paid leaves, safety, compensation, and benefits, Rigby said.

“We greatly value the hard work and dedication of our teachers and staff, and we remain committed to reaching fair and sustainable agreements for both groups,” Rigby stated. She said they are now working through mediation with the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).

Supervisor Roy Lee came out to support Carpinteria educators last Friday. | Credit: Callie Fausey

While mediation is a confidential process, she said, “We continue to actively engage in good-faith efforts to settle the contracts. We understand that this delay is difficult for everyone, and we remain hopeful that with the support of PERB, we will be able to reach mutual agreement.”

County Supervisor Roy Lee attended the protest on Friday, saying that Carpinteria teachers have reached out to him personally amid negotiations to ask him to show his support. He noted that the turnout of supporters was big for the small town.

“I’m a big supporter of educators. They’re underpaid, underappreciated,” he said. “I’m here to show my support. Anything we can do to make their lives better — I’m here … and I know that the school board is doing everything they can to listen to the teachers.”

Lee was also there during the Santa Barbara Teacher Association’s protests, as they went through a similar, dramatic negotiation process with the Santa Barbara Unified School District. After a year of bargaining, the union and the district just reached a contract settlement granting teachers a 15 percent raise over the course of the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years.

Union–District Tensions

Union president Hotchner and district leadership have had a contentious relationship for years. He was dismissed from his teaching position at Carpinteria Middle School in November 2022, after working there for more than 20 years, for alleged “unprofessional” conduct toward students.

The California Commission on Professional Competence found his dismissal unwarranted last year, however, and ordered he be reinstated. The district appealed the decision and sued the commission in February to deny the reinstatement, and the case is still ongoing.

Hotchner said that the district has spent more than $1 million on these legal fees. He has become a regular speaker at board meetings, sometimes commenting 10 or more times during one meeting on multiple agenda items.

The board has asked him to leave meetings due to his behavior in the past, and he has repeatedly accused the board of violating the Brown Act, an open meeting law that protects the public’s right to attend and participate in local legislative meetings.

This led to the board bringing in the district’s legal counsel, Craig Price, to review the act and confirm the board’s compliance on January 14, which was first reported by the Coastal View News. Since then, the board has revised its public comment guidelines.