SRVUSD Board Approves Salary Raises Across The Board

SAN RAMON VALLEY, CA — The San Ramon Valley Unified School District Board of Education voted Tuesday night to approve a slew of salary raises for teachers and management totaling more than $960,000, amid public outcry.

Tuesday night's vote came after SRVUSD reached an agreement in March with its largest union, San Ramon Valley Education Association, for the contract period from July 2019 to June 2022. The district agreed to a 2.56 percent base salary increase in a tentative agreement, board documents show. The board was slated to vote on an approval of $460,000 in retroactive pay Tuesday.

Parents, however, took issue with related matters up for consideration: so-called "me too" salary adjustments for SRVUSD management. Some board members said they received more than 100 emails criticizing the proposed raises.

SRVUSD management salaries are tied to teacher salaries, hence the "me too" moniker. That means district managers in tiers IV and V of the SRVUSD's five-step salary schedule will also receive a 2.56 percent retroactive salary adjustment — another $500,000, according to board documents.

Parents called the raises "unnecessary and unwarranted" in written testimony to the board and noted that SRVUSD spent $8 million more than it received in revenues during the 2019 fiscal year.

"We are facing so many unknowns and need to be fiscally responsible now more than ever," they wrote. "Students and teachers will have many new needs in the coming months and years that will rely on extra expenses to go directly into the class room for their safety and health."

Board members saw the salary adjustments as a matter of fairness. SRVUSD said in an emailed statement that it has long applied the same increase across employee groups, including managers.

"It isn't fair, it isn't equitable and when you have disparate treatment ... that will send a message of disunity," said board President Greg Marvel. "That says you're not valued as much as everybody else."

Board member Rachel Hurd said it's important to first raise salaries, "then we start working on solving the shortfall together, with everybody with the same amount of skin in the game."

The new salary schedule for SRVUSD's top-paid employees dictates that: the superintendent will start at $294,000 at have the potential to earn $358,000; the deputy superintendent will start at $249,000 and earn up to $303,000; and the assistant superintendent/chief business officer will start at $226,000 and earn up to $275,000.

Watch the meeting here.