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Gilroy teachers press board for livable wages and smaller classes as bargaining talks falter
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Summary
Gilroy Teachers Association members and parents urged the board to halt program changes, enforce caseload limits and approve pay and class-size improvements that the union says management has refused to negotiate; no formal district action on salary or class-size changes was taken at the meeting.
Haley Saldana, lead negotiator for the Gilroy Teachers Association, told the board at its Feb. 12 meeting that the union came to the table with compromise proposals on class size, caseloads and pay but found no corresponding offers from district management.
"It would take a 14% salary increase for us to be average in Santa Clara County," Saldana said, adding that the union was asking the board to direct management toward a 7% increase. She said the union's class-size and caseload proposals would not exceed county averages.
The union and several classroom teachers and parents used the public-comment period to press the board on a cluster of related concerns: rising class sizes, heavy caseloads for special-education staff, staff burnout, and a lack of parent involvement when programs are transferred from the county office. "Gilroy Unified is looking at our kids as cost-saving numbers," parent Andrea Hightower told trustees, asking the board to delay decisions to "take back" SCCOE programs at local sites until parents are included.
Several speakers cited the legal limits on resource specialist caseloads. Sheila Monger, a special-education teacher, said Education Code section 56362 requires caseloads to be stated in policy and prohibits resource specialists from serving more than 28 students except under narrow waiver language; she said many local resource educators already exceed those limits.
Teachers underscored the operational impact of larger classes. Janet Lee, a Gilroy High science teacher, said proposals to reduce prep time and raise class caps would combine some of the district's largest class sizes with some of its lowest pay, undermining instruction and teacher retention. A Mount Madonna teacher asked the board to adopt a 20-student cap for certain continuation classes to improve safety and support at-risk students.
Board members heard the remarks but took no immediate personnel or contract action during the meeting. Several trustees and the superintendent noted the district must consider budget constraints and the timing of state budget decisions before committing to new recurring salary or staffing costs.
What's next: The board did not vote on salary or class-size changes at this meeting. Negotiations between the district and GTA remain active, and board members said staff will continue to analyze budget options and return progress reports and financial projections to the board in coming weeks.
