For almost a year, Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) and Alameda Education Association (AEA)—the union of AUSD teachers, counselors, speech and language pathologists, nurses, and school psychologists—have been trying to negotiate a contract. So far, they have been unsuccessful.
On Thursday, January 22, the two groups will participate in a mediation session to try and come to an agreement. If the mediation session fails to produce a contract that both sides can agree on, an independent third party will look at data from AUSD and AEA and make a recommendation.
If the contract issues continue to remain unresolved, AEA members will go on strike. AEA sent out a poll to its members and of the 95% who responded, 91.5% said they were willing to strike.
Issues at stake
1. Salary: AEA is asking for a 9% raise, while AUSD is willing to give a 2.3% raise. According to AEA president Judy Ganley, teachers in Alameda “are at a lower compensation level than the surrounding districts.”
The proposed 2.3% raise is slightly lower than the current inflation rate of 2.7%. Teachers and staff last got a raise of 7% when the AUSD School Board voted to approve an increase on April 16th, 2024.
Ganley also notes that AUSD Superintendent Pasqual Scuderi signed a three-year contract last year with a built-in 6% increase each year, which “upset union members because we were still in negotiations. And then it upset members more when their offer to us was 2.3%.”
Scuderi had a 2024 salary of $315,331.31 for 225 days. Teacher salaries ranged from $68,271.97 to $122,942.10 for 186 days. A special needs paraprofessional has a starting pay of $21.89 per hour.
Ganley stresses that she and union members are happy with Scuderi’s performance as a superintendent and that she believes he deserves his compensation and salary package. “He’s good at his job, he should be compensated fairly… but everyone should be paid according to the level of contribution they’re making.”
2. Benefits: AEA is asking for AUSD to cover 50% of family health insurance premiums ($1,500) while AUSD is willing to pay $1,168, which would fully cover one employee but not family members. AUSD currently pays $1,021.41 for health care premiums.
Lyndsey Schlax, an eighth grade History and English teacher at Lincoln Middle School, tells the Alameda Post that she currently pays $2,017.63 a month for health insurance for her family of four. “That is 20% of my pre-tax salary.” Schlax says that in addition to “educators who are having to work second jobs,” other teachers are choosing to delay having children because they cannot afford the health insurance.
3. Class size caps: AEA is asking AUSD to honor teacher contracts and not push class sizes to over 33 for middle and high schools. According to Ganley, “We have a class size limit, but it is not respected.” Currently, teachers are paid more for extra students as a way to get around the student class size limit. Ganley explains, “They don’t hire another teacher to prevent that from happening. …We’re just acknowledging the impact of having 37 students in a science class.”
4. Special education teachers: AEA is asking for more paid prep time for special education teachers. According to Schlax, AUSD is having a hard time retaining special education teachers and paraprofessionals due to low pay. “Our turnover rate in special education is huge. …The district is having to hire contractors rather than employees to fill these vacancies. And the contractors cost significantly more.”
Susan Davis, Senior Manager, Community Affairs for AUSD, confirmed to the Post that “86 of our 179 special education paraprofessionals, (48%) are contractors.” And a slide from AUSD’s First Interim Budget for Fiscal Year 2025-2026 states that, “District is spending approximately $1 million more on contracted employees than it would on hiring its own employees.”
Reserves
At the heart of the issues is money. AEA claims that AUSD has over $50 million in reserves and that some of that money should be spent on supporting teachers and staff.
Davis confirmed to the Post via email that there is $52.63 million in reserves, but she explained that the reserve money “is ‘one-time’ money, meaning the district only has it at one point in time. As such, that money cannot be committed to ongoing expenses, like salaries, because once the balance is spent, no more is coming in.”
The Post asked Scuderi if there was a way for AUSD to allow for “one-time” money to be spent on salaries and benefits for teachers. He conceded that it was possible and that for the last round of salary raises in 2024, the district took $14.5 million from the reserves and spread it out over a projected seven years to partially fund the raises. AEA is projecting 9% raises to cost $11 million dollars.
But Scuderi cautions, “Do we continue to do that and layer obligation on top of obligation, on top of obligation, to a point where then it catches up with us?” He says he doesn’t want to take “a level of risk that turns into something that’s irresponsible” and points to other school districts which are at risk of fiscal insolvency.
Schlax, however, says that drawing down on the reserves “for today’s students is the right thing to do, to support, to reinvest, and reprioritize in the students we have today.” She tells the Post, “We’re so tired. Teaching right now is more complicated than it’s ever been. Our students are dealing with so much.”
Both AEA and AUSD agree that the district needs more ongoing funding from the state of California. Davis told the Post in an email: “Salaries for all teachers are lower than they should be. This isn’t because districts don’t value teachers; it’s because the state and federal governments don’t give school districts enough money to pay them.”
Scuderi also points out that federal funding for special education would make a huge impact on the educational system, but has consistently been underfunded for the last 50 years.
Schlax, however, says, “I would love to hear our board and our superintendent tell us, ‘You’re right. You deserve more. And we’re going to advocate on your behalf and with you to the state to make it work.”
In the meantime, both sides are hoping for an agreement during Thursday’s mediation session. Scuderi observes, “These things get tense… but we are genuinely committed to trying to make this work,” while Ganley states, “I’m confident we will come to an agreement. I do not feel like anyone here, on either side, is interested in a strike.”
AEA teachers and staff will be rallying this Wednesday and Thursday before and after school in front of all AUSD schools.
Jean Chen is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact her via [email protected]. Her writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Jean-Chen.
