After nearly a year of back-and-forth discussions, Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District (NCLUSD) and the Newman-Crows Landing Teachers Association (NCLTA) finalized its 2024-25 bargaining collective agreement following approval from the Board of Education last Monday.
The agreement included a plethora of changes to various articles that the teachers’ association requested. Those articles include changes to longevity stipend, employment hours, classroom sizes, special education, extended teacher pay and health and welfare.
Some sections will have drastic changes compared to how it was in the 2023-24 agreement. Starting in their year 15, teachers will see an extra $1,000 added every five years of their longevity stipend. $4,000 will be added to teachers who’ve taught for at least 30 years whereas the previous agreement had a $3,000 stipend.
The number of workdays for the 2024-25 agreement was reduced to one day at 183, instead of 184. The district directed day will be reduced from three to two days.
Ana Marroquin, the leading negotiator for NCLTA, said giving teachers more preparation time was one of the changes union members were advocating for. Currently, teachers only have one preparation day.
The special education section in the new agreement includes an additional instructional aide for self-contained mild/moderate support elementary classrooms and classroom sizes being adjusted based on the class structure and students’ needs if more than 50% of students meet the primary eligibility of autism or emotional disturbance.
Additionally, special education and dual-language teachers could see a 1.5% stipend increase if they have a Bilingual, Crosscultural, Language and Academic Development credential and a Bachelor of Applied Arts Degree.
Teachers will be awarded their medical benefits every five years, starting in their fifth year of teaching. Every five years, an extra $500 will go towards medical benefits.
Yolo Middle School and Orestimba High School could see a classroom size increase of 30 students. The previous cap for students in a classroom at both schools were 25 students.
Marroquin said some of the things that members were vocal about were wages and classroom sizes. Additionally, one of the deal breakers for the union was the size of physical education classes. That will be lowered to 45 students, she said.
“There are things specifically in the tentative agreement that our members wanted to get clear language [on],” Marroquin said. “They wanted more wages. Class size was an issue, specifically for PE and so our members wanted us to come back to the table and get more in those areas.”
1% of ongoing district contributions will go towards teachers’ health and welfare.
Jessie Ceja, the district assistant supervisor of human services, was the leading negotiator for NCLUSD. He said the agreement took longer than usual to complete because negotiations started at the end of last year and the teacher’s association rejected some of the district’s initial proposals. The contract was agreed upon last month.
Around the same time last year when both parties were negotiating an agreement, NCLUSD was also negotiating with another organization: The California School Employees Association and its Newman Crows-Landing Unified Chapter 551.
The tentative agreement was finalized for this school year after the Board of Education approved it in June.
What’s next for NCLUSD and NCLTA?
With the contract for last academic year finalized, an agreement for the 2025-26 has not been made. Negotiations for a new contract will begin later this year, Ceja said. He added that the district wants to get it ready before the next school year.
“Our goal is to get this process done in a timelier fashion,” Ceja said. “We want to make sure we’re looking out for all parties involved.”
When the negotiations begin, sports coaches receiving more compensation is among the items that NCLTA will ask for, Marroquin said. She added that members have brought up the matter for multiple years.
According to the 2023-24 agreement, coaches within the district could receive from $1,365 to $3,277 in stipends depending on the sport and level they’re coaching at.
The union will have a representative for the coaches. “Whenever we see something that is standing out a lot, or that people are expressing [about], [it] needs to be addressed,” Marroquin said.
Navtej Hundal is a freelance journalist in Stanislaus County
