No 'Enthusiastic Endorsement,' but Teachers Accept Tentative Agreement With 5 Percent Salary Increase

The Menifee Union School District Tuesday ratified a tentative agreement with teachers.

Teachers in the Menifee Union School District will work the upcoming school year under a tentative salary agreement with the district that was ratified this week by a vote of the MUSD governing board.

Under terms of the agreement, the salary schedules for members of the Menifee Teachers Association will be increased by 5 percent on base pay only. The salary increase will be retroactive to January 1, 2015, with the retroactive increase payable on the Sept. 30 pay warrant. The tentative agreement will be in effect until June 30, 2016.

Members of the MTA worked under terms of an expired contract during the previous school year. Although MTA leaders announced on the association's website that its members voted to ratify the current agreement (the actual vote was not released), it is clear that the MTA is not entirely satisfied with the situation.

"Well, the ballots have been counted and the results are in: the 'ayes' have it," wrote outgoing negotations chair Mike Williams on the MTA website. "While this provides some measure of satisfaction, it would be disingenuous to pretend that the vote was an enthusiastic endorsement of the agreement between the MTA and management. In fact, as far as anyone can tell, the percentage of negative votes was the greatest ever. This is a clear and ominous sign of growing unhappiness with the state of things in the Menifee Union School District.

"First, it must be noted that none of your team members left the last bargaining session in a celebratory mood. We did not feel as if we had 'won' anything. What we did think was that we had secured the best tentative agreement that could be had at that stage of bargaining."

Williams went on to mention the concern of MTA members that the retroactive pay increase will date back to January 1 and not all the way to July 1, 2014 -- the first day teachers began working under an expired contract. According to a document presented to Menifee 24/7 by MTA members in June, Menifee teachers on the lowest step on the salary scale earned an average of $46,100 annually under the previous contract.

Even so, MTA President MaryAnn Jacobs said in an email to Menifee 24/7 that teachers are ready to focus on the task at hand for the current school year -- educating and nurturing students.

"MTA is extremely relieved that an agreement could be reached that allows for our school year to begin as it normally does each year with nothing standing in the way of a successful beginning," Jacobs wrote in the email. "Students and parents can be confident that another outstanding school year will begin as scheduled and that teachers are excited to welcome them on the first day of school!"

MUSD Superintendent Dr. Steve Kennedy said the 5 percent salary increase was made possible by Governor Brown's May revise of the state budget.

At the same meeting in which the school board ratified the tentative agreement with MTA, it voted to approve a 5 percent salary increase for governing board members, also retroactive to January 1, 2015. According to the motion approved unanimously by board members, this is the same percentage approved for all district employee groups.

Classes begin Aug. 17 in the Menifee Union School District.