West Contra Costa School Board to Vote on Layoffs After Teachers Get 14% Raise

On Wednesday, the West Contra Costa Unified School District Board will vote on a proposal that could result in layoffs for next year. This comes after the Board recently agreed to a 7% raise with its teachers.

This comes after a March 2022 report last year showing the District was projected at a $151 million deficit in 2024. Meanwhile, the County Board of Education called for a “fiscal solvency plan” which included $20 million in cuts to the 2024-25 school year. — see report

The agenda shows the board will vote on three resolutions that could begin the layoff process:

1. particular kinds of service layoffs (Item E 1)
2. elementary playground supervisors positions (Item E 2)
3. preliminary classified layoffs (Item E 3).

The staff report did not share the number of people who could be laid off and other specifics were not shared in the staff report.

According to a March 1 letter, the Contra Costa County Office of education reviewed the Districts Negotiated Salary Settlement with the United Teachers of Richmond.

According to a March 1 letter, the Contra Costa County Office of education reviewed the Districts Negotiated Salary Settlement  with the United Teachers of Richmond. the District announced a 7% increase in salary schedule (plus statutory benefits) effective July 1, 2022, a 7.5% increase to salary schedule (plus statutory benefits) effective July 1, 2023, a stipend for community school teachers of $2,500 per teacher, and an increase in “cash in lieu”. The settlement also triggers the “Me too” clause with other bargaining units resulting in additional costs to the District.

The District stated in February, this means that our educators will see a total 14.5% increase in salary within the next five months.  In addition, the district will increase the dollar amount of benefits contributions in order to maintain employees’ current level of health coverage and buffer the rising cost of medical care.

Back in August, it was stated that the District was beginning this school year with a teacher shortage and still needed to hire nearly 100 teachers.

Editors Note: most school districts will go through this process of layoff notices due to state law requiring a March 15 notice. Its unclear if once the District updates its budget plan if the layoffs will go through.