Fresno Unified plans to keep schools open if teachers strike this fall. Here’s how
Fresno Unified will offer substitute teachers $500 a day if the Fresno Teachers Association goes on strike this fall semester, which will start next week. District officials call the move unfortunate but necessary preparation, while the union president says it sends a message that the district is unwilling to take steps to prevent a strike from happening.
The union and district have been in negotiations since November and have yet to show signs of moving closer to a deal. Not only are they at odds over traditional bargaining areas like salary and benefits, but the district has also balked at the union’s multimillion dollar proposals related to student well-being.
Fresno Unified officials argue these issues don’t belong in contract negotiations, while the union says the district – where students struggle with mental health and meeting basic needs, as well as with literacy and math standards – needs systemic change.
Now, the parties are edging closer to the Sept. 29 deadline the union gave Fresno Unified in May to reach an agreement. If they don’t reach a deal by then, FTA has vowed to conduct a strike authorization vote.
While both district and union leadership told The Bee’s Education Lab they’re holding out hope they can reach an agreement, neither side is confident a strike can be averted.
“It seems like they’re more concerned with public image than addressing the real issues at the table,” said FTA President Manuel Bonilla.
The two parties are due to enter the fact-finding process in the coming weeks, conducted by the Public Employment Relations Board. A panel will review each side’s proposals, analyze the financial implications, and provide recommendations on how to reach a deal.
No matter what happens, the district is committed to keeping schools open through the recruitment of substitutes and other measures.
“Especially after the pandemic,” said district spokesperson Nikki Henry, “we know our families and our students cannot handle any sort of school closure. So we will do everything in our power to keep things open.”
Sticking points for Fresno Unified and the teachers union
Superintendent Bob Nelson announced the plan regarding substitute teachers at a back-to-school press conference Monday afternoon.
The district made an identical offer in 2017, after FTA had voted to authorize a strike, which was ultimately avoided.
In an interview Tuesday, Henry said the district remains concerned that FTA’s last, best, and final offer – delivered back in May – will bankrupt the district and put it at risk of a state takeover.
The union’s proposal to restore lifetime health benefits for teachers in particular isn’t fiscally sustainable, she said. Bonilla argues the district’s current healthcare fund has a large surplus and that it’s not in their best interest to propose something that would bankrupt their employer.
The idea of piloting a four-day work week is another FTA proposal the district believes won’t work for families, Henry added. Bonilla countered that the district is “grasping for straws” by focusing on that proposal, which hasn’t come up in bargaining conversations yet and is something the union would want to co-design with the community for one to two school sites rather than the whole district.
FTA has their own concerns, including with the district’s unwillingness to allocate more of the roughly 8% cost of living adjustment from the state toward teachers’ salaries in order to keep up with inflation, Bonilla said. Henry said that additional funding from the state is meant for making adjustments to the budget overall and not just employee salaries.
Bonilla said the union hasn’t gotten an adequate response from the district on their proposals about reducing class sizes. Henry countered that while the district is open to negotiating that, they’re concerned about introducing class sizes “caps,” versus adjusting teacher-to-student ratios, as is done now.
What led to the teacher strike possibility this fall
Tensions in this current bargaining cycle have ebbed and flowed ever since the teachers union first went public with a draft of their proposals in April 2022. The union suggested several investments in students’ social-emotional wellbeing, including $1 million in free laundry service for all students by 2026, and another $1 million to fund free clothes and school supplies for students in need.
In November, when the union and district formally opened contract talks, many of FTA’s proposals remained intact word-for-word in a 26-page document.
The document included requests for as much as a 7.26% raise plus 100% district-paid healthcare, up from the current 95/5 employer- to employee-covered ratio. Despite raises in recent years, teacher pay in Fresno and across California still failed to keep up with rising inflation.
The district’s more high-level, three-page document stated its interest in updating contract language around several key issues, including class sizes, sick leave and student supervision requirements.
In April, tension mounted again after the district publicly accused the union of planning a strike authorization vote for later that month.
Bonilla denied any such plans and fired back that the accusation was “an attempt to create fear and panic throughout our community.”
The union later articulated its intentions to hold a strike authorization vote the following month at a May 24 rally, where thousands of teachers shut down an entire block of N Street in downtown Fresno.
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.
