Clovis Unified employees win big raises. Here’s why some teachers say it’s not enough
Clovis Unified School District employees will get a one-time 7% raise following the board’s Wednesday evening vote and the yearlong work of a committee that recommended the action and requested a market study of the district’s salaries.
That market study – and the multi-million dollars earmarked for its implementation – could impact employees’ pay for years.
But the raises for the upcoming school year are “a down payment” on what educators should get, Clovis Unified teacher Kristin Heimerdinger told the board when she spoke about the proposal.
In most years, she said, 7% would be generous, but it’s not enough to close the pay gap between Clovis Unified educators and those in other districts or mitigate the 8.3% inflation rate.
Dressed in blue along with around six other educators, Heimerdinger is the spokesperson for the Association of Clovis Educators, the most recent effort to unionize Clovis teachers.
Despite having some of the highest student achievement scores in the area, Clovis Unified has had the lowest pay for the people educating those students.
“We are the lowest-paid teachers in the area,” Heimerdinger said in May when discussing teacher recruitment and retention with The Fresno Bee’s Education Lab. “While a paycheck is not necessarily the only factor that can affect your job satisfaction, the reality of it is that people can make more money in other school systems and in other professions.
“We’re told regularly that we are the best at our jobs, but they will not pay us as if we’re the best.”
About 41% of Clovis Unified schools have been named National Blue Ribbon Schools, and 93% have been a part of the California Distinguished Schools Program/California Gold Ribbon Award in the past, according to the district.
“We are seeing what happens when a district fails to maintain competitive salaries for the professionals who actually do the work of educating students,” Heimerdinger said.
Clovis teacher says raises should only be a ‘down payment’
The Employee Compensation Committee, consisting of about 40 employees from the classroom, school, and administrative levels, evaluated the CUSD and state budgets and recommended the salary increase to the school board.
For decades, district administration has consulted with the committee about what to prioritize and address, whether that’s salaries, benefits, or class size reduction, Superintendent Eimear O’Brien said.
The committee decided to request a third-party market study to make sure employee salaries, especially those of teachers, are competitive in the market, district communications director Kelly Avants said.
The committee’s work, which determined the raise’s percentage rate and each aspect of the proposal, is confidential to avoid miscommunication, confusion, and misinformation as the group has broad, complex conversations about many topics, O’Brien and Avants said.
The market study is still pending but expected by next week. It will detail how different positions are paid compared to other districts with similar funding rates, enrollment, and student groups based on socioeconomic and demographic status.
“Our board recognizes the hard work of the entire team,” O’Brien said. “I’m so proud that every bus driver, every person who cuts the grass, every clerk, every employee will be receiving this 7%. Our team stepped up this year.”
The 7% raises for 2022-23 amount to more than $30.9 million for more than 4,000 employees, including teachers, administrators, and support staff. Millions more will be spent on stipends for support staff to cover classes and increased substitute teacher pay that were approved as part of the proposal. Those were initiated with one-time COVID-19 relief dollars but require ongoing funding.
Only the district’s psychologists and mental health support providers – 79 employees – will not receive the raise. They voted to start their own union, and their negotiations with the school system are ongoing.
“ACE considers the 7% a down payment, but it cannot be the only solution,” Heimerdinger said.
She demanded that the board create a three-to-five-year plan to address and close the pay gap.
The district will spend $12.8 million to implement the recommendations from the study, according to the approved proposal.
“There will be opportunities for employees’ salaries to also be impacted this coming year based on the implementation of the recommendations from the market study,” O’Brien said.
Even as the compensation analysis is pending, the district’s own information shows that Clovis educators have been paid at a lower rate.
Clovis Unified gets less money from California than other districts
The district’s 342-page budget details what CUSD officials have long described as a funding gap between how much most California schools receive from the state and how much Clovis schools receive.
“No additional funding is included in the state budget to reduce the revenue gap between Clovis Unified and the average California unified school district,” the budget says.
CUSD teachers make $73,614 in comparison with the statewide average of $85,154, according to Clovis Unified data.
Of Fresno County’s 32 school districts, CUSD is the lowest funded, O’Brien said.
Clovis received $13,286 on student and spent $12,440. However, the statewide average for per-student funding last year was $15,864, and average spending was $14,539. In Fresno County, the average across the 32 districts was $16,746 received and $15,183 spent.
While size is a factor, the more targeted students a district has, the more funding it gets. Targeted students are those who qualify for free or reduced meals or are English learners, foster youth, or homeless. Districts with 55% or more of those student groups get 65% more of their base funding determined by average daily attendance, the district’s budget detailed. CUSD’s percentage is 48.59%.
”It’s a real strain on the district when we’re not able to direct funding where we want it to go for students,” O’Brien said.
Clovis teacher blames pay gap on district’s reserve funding policy
Despite the state’s funding of CUSD at a lower rate, the raises will be funded due to the state’s projected budget, that’s expected to include excess reserves, a 6.56% increase to the funding formula due to inflation, and an additional $2.1 billion investment in the state’s funding formula.
But those raises must be maintained from year to year.
The district’s fund balance, which is the money left in a budget after the department’s assets have been used, will allow the school system to maintain the raises. The fund balance will remain above 12.7% of the district’s budget. Fund balances are required to be at least 2%, but CUSD has a policy to maintain at least 10%.
Heimerdinger blames the pay gap on the district’s “priority to put money in reserves,” resulting in a fund balance beyond what’s needed.
Board member Steven Fogg said he doesn’t want the district to ever be in a position where it must layoff employees because of a nonexistent fund balance, which is a district’s safety net.
Even after funds are used for the raises and study implementation, the fund balance would still sit at $138.5 million, with $111.9 million will be restricted, $13.7 million will be earmarked for economic uncertainties, and $12.8 million in unassigned funding.
“The reserves are designed to enable us to keep our track record,” board member David DeFrank said.
But like districts across the country, employee compensation, much of that being teacher salaries, makes up the bulk of a school system’s general fund budget.
Seventy-two percent of that budget goes to compensation, including 33% for licensed employee salaries, 14% for support staff’s salaries, and 25% for benefits.
Fogg said while the district must manage and spend funds wisely, educators should be compensated appropriately.
“These are wonderful people who give their whole lives to our kids – 20, 30, 40 years,” Fogg said. “They change lives.”
The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.
This story was originally published June 9, 2022 at 7:28 AM.
