School board approves raises for Mountain View teachers

Mountain View Whisman’s school board voted unanimously last week to approve a union contract that will give raises to teachers over the next three years.

The board voted 5-0 at a Thursday, May 2, meeting to approve the agreement, which calls for teachers to get a 5% raise next school year, another 5% raise in the 2025-26 school year and a 4% raise in the 2026-27 school year.

By the final year of the contract, teachers would earn $89,244 to $160,001 annually, based on their education and the number of years they’ve worked in the district. Currently, teachers earn $77,834 to $139,544.

Board member Laura Ramirez Berman said at last week’s meeting that she’s proud of the teachers that the district employs and that new teachers are looking carefully at pay when deciding where to work.

“I just feel very grateful that our district is able to provide this compensation for our staff,” she said.

Superintendent Ayindé Rudolph previously described the contract negotiations as some of the smoothest in his nine years in the district. That’s a change from two years ago, when the district and union reached an impasse in that last round of contract negotiations.

Board President Devon Conley said on Thursday that while the negotiations are being described as smooth, that doesn’t mean they were easy.

“There was a lot of give and take. There was real openness, and listening, and trying to understand and appreciate the different asks of both sides of the table,” Conley said. “We just truly, truly appreciate the agreement that has been reached.”

The raises are expected to cost the district $2.07 million next school year, $2.25 million the following year and $1.96 million in the final year.

The contract includes a provision that if voters don’t approve a parcel tax this November, the district could reopen discussions over salary for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years. The school board is looking to put a parcel tax on the November ballot, but hasn’t yet taken a final vote to do so.

Rudolph previously told the Voice that while the district has the option to reopen the contract if a parcel tax fails, the decision to do that would be dependent on the district’s financial situation. 

Three members of the public addressed the board about the union contract, raising various concerns, including whether the raises were tied to a proposal to change the middle school bell schedule.

Some parents have argued that district staff proposed changing the bell schedule as a way to save money and give teachers raises. The bell schedule change would have saved $1.2 million, because fewer middle school teachers would be needed. 

Rudolph has previously said that paying for the raises was based on the assumption of switching the bell schedule, but that the district had already been looking for ways to cut costs when a staff committee proposed the schedule.

Conley asked Rudolph on Thursday whether there was an “under the table deal” to give teachers raises in exchange for cutting teaching positions. Rudolph said that that wasn’t the case, and union President Mick Newman described the idea of a secret deal as “completely absurd.”

Later in the meeting, the board voted to keep the current bell schedule and allow the district to lower its reserve level to cover the cost.