The Capistrano Unified School District, faced with a possible union strike, will renegotiate a decision to permanently slash teacher pay, officials announced Tuesday.
School officials posted the following message today on the district's website:
In response to Capistrano Unified Education Association’s (CUEA) April 19 proposal, the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) sent a letter to CUEA Executive Director, Christine Balentine, indicating a willingness to return to the bargaining table to commence negotiations regarding various items, including, but not limited to, “restoration language” regarding recently imposed reductions.
CUSD has offered to meet with CUEA as early as April 22. The district is hopeful that both parties can negotiate a mutually acceptable agreement at the bargaining table.
The compromise could help de-escalate rising tensions over a March 31 school board decision to impose a permanent 10 percent pay cut on all 2,200 of the district's teachers.
Last week, frustrated and angry members of the local teachers' union granted their governing board permission to kick off a strike. Days before the strike vote, an estimated 7,412 students skipped school as part of a "sickout" to protest the school board's March 31 vote to impose a teacher pay cut.
The talks over the cuts had been ongoing since June. After the March board vote, union members accused the district of trying to use the budget crisis to crush them. District officials countered that the payroll reductions were necessary to help get district finances out of the red. This year alone, the district was facing $34 million in lost revenue, officials said.
A strike decision could have been announced Monday, but instead the teachers offered a compromise and gave Capistrano officials a 5 p.m. deadline to respond.
The compromise talks will involve ending the pay cut in 2011, restoring salary and benefits if unforeseen monies are received, and implementing specific contractual language.
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