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Teachers urge Palo Alto board to use reserves to close pay gap as bargaining resumes
Summary
More than a dozen teachers and union leaders told the board that rising district reserves and recent surpluses contrast with stagnating educator pay; the PAEA president delivered roughly 3,000 member messages ahead of May 18 negotiations and pressed for a settlement reflecting district values.
PAEA President Tom Culbertson (speaker 13) told trustees the union had collected about 3,000 personal messages from members urging the board to prioritize a new contract ahead of bargaining scheduled for May 18.
"We saw a $114,000,000 reserve, 10 times what the state requires. We saw a $26,000,000 surplus generated since our last contract," Culbertson said, adding that those figures underline the union’s case that the district has room to improve compensation and support for staff.
Teachers and classified staff who addressed the board during open forum said pay and staffing levels are eroding working conditions and endangering recruitment and retention. Representative public commenters included classroom teachers who described larger caseloads, lost positions (such as shared secretaries or co‑teaching planning days), rising commuting burdens and difficulty affording housing in Palo Alto.
"We are the backbone of this school district," one teacher said during open forum, urging the board to bring a meaningful, competitive offer to upcoming negotiations. Another commenter, Joshua Little (speaker 40), framed the issue as a choice: he said the district can pay teachers competitively if it chooses to allocate reserves differently.
CSEA President Meb Steiner (speaker 12) also delivered data and context for classified employees, emphasizing statewide survey results showing many classified members earn under $40,000 and face food or housing insecurity; he introduced the district’s classified‑employee award recipients earlier in the meeting.
Board members acknowledged the comments and asked staff to verify compliance on some procedural items raised in public comment (for example, publication or notification around site safety plans) while expressing gratitude for the work of educators.
What’s next: bargaining between the district and PAEA is scheduled to continue; both union leaders and trustees indicated talk will continue in the May 18 session and beyond. The union has asked the board to pursue a settlement that addresses salaries and workload concerns.
