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Board approves salary and administrative items, bond refunding and program designations
Summary
Atascadero Unified School District trustees approved multiple personnel and fiscal items at their April 22 meeting, including a 1.75% retroactive pay increase for CSEA members and a resolution to pursue up to $17 million in refunding general obligation bonds.
Atascadero Unified School District trustees approved a package of personnel and fiscal actions during their April 22 meeting, including a 1.75% retroactive economic enhancement for the California School Employees Association (CSEA), updates to administrative salary schedules and employment agreements for district executives, and authorization to pursue refunding general obligation bonds of up to $17 million.
Why it matters: The actions affect employee pay and district finances, and the bond refunding could lower local property tax bills if market conditions produce savings. The CSEA salary adjustment is retroactive to July 1, 2024, and the district said negotiations with CSEA were “very positive.”
The board approved the following motions (roll-call votes recorded unless noted):
- Approval of minutes for the April 1, 2025 meeting — passed (roll call: Arnold, Ellis White, Kosnick, Coonley, McGrew Keane, Pierce, Taylor = yes).
- Consent agenda (with an addendum correcting one probationary employment classification) — passed (roll call: all present voted yes).
- CSEA economic enhancement: approval of a 1.75% salary increase retroactive to 07/01/2024 for CSEA (Atascadero Chapter 124) — motion to approve passed unanimously (roll call recorded in the transcript; all trustees voted yes).
- Confidential/supervisory and classified-management salary schedule updates — approved (roll call recorded; majority yes).
- Employment agreements for the superintendent and assistant superintendents (including application of the 1.75% adjustment across steps) — approved (Kosnick recorded a “no” on one of these items; roll call reflected the dissent noted in the transcript).
- Resolution 24-24-25: authorization to seek issuance and sale of refunding general obligation bonds (not to exceed $17,000,000) to refinance outstanding bond series from the 2014 election; board adopted the resolution to pursue savings — passed (roll call recorded; all present voted yes).
- Title I schoolwide program designation: the board identified Carissa Plains, Paloma Creek High School and Santa Rosa Elementary School as Title I schools and approved using Title I funds for schoolwide programs — approved (roll call recorded; all present voted yes).
- Receipt and acknowledgement of initial bargaining proposals: the board formally received proposals exchanged with ADTA (teachers) and CSEA for 2025–26 bargaining — motions to receive and acknowledge passed by roll call.
- Declaration of Need for Fully Qualified Educators for 2025–26 (required by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing for emergency/authorization planning) — approved (roll call recorded; all present voted yes).
What the board said: District staff described the bond refunding as an opportunity to “save taxpayer dollars” by seeking a lower interest rate; bond advisors anticipate potential savings (staff estimated roughly $900,000 in preliminary scenarios). District negotiators characterized the CSEA 1.75% increase as the result of a “very positive negotiation cycle” with local CSEA representatives.
Next steps and notes: For the refunding, staff said a final savings figure will be known only after pricing and market conditions; any realized savings will be reflected in future tax bills. Implementation of salary schedule changes and employment agreements will proceed per the approved documents. Title I schools will include Title I funding detail in their Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) when those plans come before the board.
Votes at a glance (summary extracted from roll-call sequence in the transcript): for each recorded vote the transcript shows trustees Arnold, Ellis White, Kosnick, Coonley, McGrew Keane, Pierce and Taylor voting; where the transcript records a “no” it is noted above.
This summary reflects the motions presented and voted on during the district’s April 22 board meeting; it does not add or interpret the legal texts of the adopted documents.
