2008-2009 School Year Reflections

The problem of low teacher compensation in NUSD has been present before the California State Legislature's "disfunctionality-on-steroids " budget crisis. This is one reason why NUSD ranks 9th from the bottom of unified districts in the entire state of California in average years of teaching experience (9.3 years) of the 277 unified districts in the state.

NUSD continues to lose qualified teachers. Over 200 new instructors have been needed in the last five years. On June 10, 2009 the Board considered the April 29, 2009 suggested list of reductions by the interest based bargaining group of administrators, NFT and CSEA . The trustees voted to move class size back to 20:1, but not before several experienced NUSD educators left the district for better jobs elsewhere. The yearly layoff and rehire of teachers has got to stop.

NUSD needs to seriously consider restructuring to efficiently use assets in order to maintain an excellent education for all students. One way of maintaining the quality of education in Novato is by providing competitive salaries for teachers. When compared to districts historically studied by NUSD, as well as unified districts with similar ADA and revenue per ADA, Novato's total compensation for teachers ranked last...15th in a group of 15. In order for parity to be possible, NUSD must make changes.

1-Earn revenue on non-performing real estate assets.

2-Combine all alternative programs on one site.

3-Consider school closures.

Health care continues to take a bigger and bigger bite from paychecks. There will be an 11% increase in the Kaiser plan and a 30% increase for Health Net beginning the 2009-2010 school year. Teachers who are able, have dropped NUSD coverage, at a savings to the district. Historically, health care costs have risen 115% in the last decade, inflation 44% and salaries 29%.

As we approach a new school year, all NUSD stakeholders must come together as joint problem-solvers. We must insist on objective criteria and consider multiple answers in order to weather the current fiscal storm and lay a strong foundation for retaining staff and enhancing compensation in the future.

NFT unit members must be informed decision makers so please attend the Fall 2009 NFT General Meeting .