Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1525262
MARIN COUNTY: Resources to Retain and Recruit Educators Members of Marin County Educators Association (MCEA) organized and won a three-year contract that provides a $12,000 salary increase per member for 2024–25 and 5% wage increases in each of the following two years. MCEA also won an increase in the district's health care contributions, as well as separate salary schedules for school nurses, speech and language pathologists and other specialists. The new contract raises the starting salary for educators from $58,024 to more than $70,000, which will help in hiring special education teachers. "Starting pay for Marin County edu- cators was the lowest in the county, ranking 17 out of 17 Marin school districts," MCEA Bargaining Team member Betsy Laflamme told the Marin Independent Journal. " We could not recruit and retain high-quality educators in Marin County … With a new starting salary of over $70,000, we can compete and attract the best educators for our students." CONTRA COSTA COUNTY: Educators Organize and Win Contract Contra Costa County Schools Educators Association (CCCSEA) members organized, rallied and won in May for the resources to recruit and retain the educators Contra Costa County students deserve. CCCSEA members were pre- paring for a potential strike after a difficult bargain that went all the way to fact-finding when they won a two- year agreement that provides a 6% pay increase retroactive to July 1, 2023 and a 1% raise effective this year. CCCSEA joined together with the East Bay Coalition for Student Success and held rallies, made speeches and helped start the movement to change the county superintendent. SAN LORENZO: Lower Class Sizes, Pay Increase A late-May rally for a fair contract turned out to be a celebration for a contract win as San Lorenzo Education Association (SLEA) leaders announced they had reached an agreement with the district that helps the school district recruit and retain the educators San Lorenzo students deserve. SLEA members won an on-sched- ule salary increase of 6.25% with a one-time 1% off-schedule payment in August. In 2025–2026, educators will receive a salary increase of 2.75% with a one-time 1% off-schedule payment in August 2025. SLEA also won better learning conditions for their students — starting next year K–3 class sizes will be 26 students and sixth grade classes will be 31 students. Members also won an improvement to their health care benefits. FAIRFIELD-SUISUN: Mediation Leads to Victory Fairfield-Suisun Unified Teachers Association (FSUTA) members mobilized for months to support their bargain, winning a contract during mediation in May that will help recruit and retain quality edu- cators in Fairfield-Suisun. FSUTA members held a city-wide rally, packed board meetings and conducted an outreach campaign to their trustees, and had a districtwide walk-in rally with informational picketing to educate their community about what was at stake. FSUTA won a 1.5% on-schedule pay increase and a $3,000 off-schedule payment, an expansion to the salary schedule, increase to health care benefits and an agreement to work on language related to evaluations. FSUTA also won a new salary schedule for SPED educators which includes a 6.5% salary increase. 41 A U G U S T / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 24