Several Benicia Unified School District teachers rallied outside City Park an hour before Thursday’s school board meeting to raise awareness of ongoing negotiations between the Benicia Teachers Association (BTA) and BUSD.

On Jan. 24, BUSD and BTA held a negotiations meeting one day after a budget workshop which focused on providing information related to school funding, namely revenues and expenses, according to an update on the BUSD website.

“With declining enrollment, steep and ongoing pension, step and column and special education cost increases, even with the proposed budget update from the Governor, which still must pass in June, BUSD needs to make budget adjustments totaling $800,000 for the 2018-19 school year,” the post read.

BUSD proposed a one-time bonus of 1 percent off the salary schedule for both the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years, citing a desire to remain competitive with surrounding school districts. BTA countered with a 5 percent salary increase for the current school year and a 4.25 percent increase for the following school year. The post noted that while school board trustees are committed to reaching a “fair and equitable” settlement, the proposed raise by BTA would cost $3.2 million.

Teachers were not happy with receiving 1 percent off the salary schedule, resulting in educators and even some students holding a rally on the corner of First and Military, holding signs and receiving honks from passing drivers.

“In all the years when there’s been money available, this is the worst offer we’ve ever had,” Tauni Stephenson, a kindergarten teacher at Joe Henderson Elementary, said. “In years when there’s been no money, we’ve taken cuts and taken hits. Now that there’s money, this offer is the worst.”

Carolyn Fields, BTA president and an English teacher at Benicia Middle School, said the ongoing national teacher shortage— which has been felt in BUSD— remains an issue.

“We’re very, very concerned about not being able to attract and retain our teachers,” she said. “Beginning salaries are OK, but when you get farther down on the salary schedule, it’s gonna get hard to keep teachers.”

Fields noted that teachers’ salaries are about 39.5 percent of the total 2017-18 interim budget, down from 49.8 percent in 2012-13. Stephenson said the lack of increases in health benefits was another major concern, with young teachers making $1,500 a month to support themselves and just one child.

“We feel like we should be valued, not only with words but with financial security,” she said.

The group then marched to the District Office for that night’s school board meeting. During the public comment portion, Fields and Henderson first-grade teacher Barbara Jones read a statement by Lisa Delorefice, a fifth-grade teacher at Mary Farmar Elementary and BTA treasurer who could not attend the meeting because her class was on an overnight Outdoor Education field trip. She challenged a letter by Superintendent Dr. Charles Young stating that the board was fair in providing a competitive salary and benefit compensation.

“A 1 percent bonus won’t help,” Delorefice wrote. “It won’t even cover my increase in medical benefits for this year.”

Delorefice noted that the budget approved by the board in December increased expenditures by more than 16 percent. Certificated salaries, she argued, were the only category that decreased.

“A 1 percent bonus is an insult and doesn’t show us we matter at all when you’re increasing expenditures in every other category,” Delorefice wrote.

Delorefice agreed with a statement from Young that salaries went up 17.5 percent. While she noted that her salary did increase by that number, she was not on the same step on the salary schedule as she is currently.

“I was on Step 21,” she wrote. “If you compare Step 21 during the 2012-13 year to the current Step 21, it’s only a 13 percent increase. I am now at Step 24 and cannot move.”

Delorefice also responded to a claim by Young that BUSD has lower class sizes and more competitive salaries than other districts in Solano County.

“We aren’t competing with districts in Solano County,” she wrote. “We are competing with Napa, Martinez, Mt. Diablo and Walnut Creek.”

Delorefice closed her letter by stating, “Please put your teachers, who are responsible for making this district great, your No. 1 priority.”

The next negotiation session is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 6.