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| Menifee Union School District teachers, dressed in black, protest for higher wages outside Tuesday's school board meeting. Menifee 24/7 photos: Doug Spoon |
Nearly 200 teachers and supporters crowded into the auditorium at the new Harvest Hill STEAM Academy on Tuesday to speak out in favor of higher teacher salaries at the Menifee Union School District governing board meeting.
Most of the teachers were dressed in black, as they were at the last school board meeting in a "silent demonstration" with none of them addressing the school board. But on Tuesday, with salary negotiations scheduled to resume next week, 20 teachers and/or parents spoke during a public comments portion of the meeting that lasted almost two hours.
MUSD teachers have been vocal in their displeasure with the 2 percent salary increase offered last year by the district. Riverside County records show teacher salaries in the Menifee district are the lowest in the county. According to the MUSD website, salaries range from a low of $47,192 at the Class I level to a high of $92,597 in Class VI, which requires a BA degree plus 90 semester units toward an MA. Service time increases caps at 15 years, lower than many other districts.
Meanwhile, academic performance by MUSD students is one of the highest in the county.
In the 2014-15 school year, MUSD teachers worked under an expired contract and made similar protests and demonstrations in an attempt to become more comparable with other districts in the county. In June 2015, the school board ratified a 5 percent raise. A year later, the sides are once again at an impasse.
Board members heard from teachers complaining about having to take a second job; taking pay cuts year after year because of increasing health care costs; being locked into what they say is an unfair salary structure with inadequate service time given; and poor working conditions for some in cramped portable classrooms.
Public speakers made it obvious they don't believe district officials' argument that there is no room in the budget for a greater salary increase. Some referenced the new magnet school in which the meeting was held and the $17 million new district headquarters in arguing that teacher salaries are at the bottom of the priority list.
"I understand budgets. I have a mortgage and I live on a restricted budget. I don't tell my kids they don't get anything this month because I have to buy a flat screen TV."
David Sisk, who said he has been teaching in Menifee for 34 years, told board members his wife has seven years fewer service time than him but makes $9,000 more as a teacher in Hemet.
Lee Eddy, a teacher at Bell Mountain Middle School, said he sees "an undercurrent of frustration, of anger, with teachers denied opportunities for growth. Teachers, who in practical terms, have taken a pay cut every single year for years."
School board members and district officials are prohibited from responding directly to speakers during the public comments portion of the meeting, so their side of the issue was not heard. However, in a recent interview with Menifee 24/7, District Superintendent Dr. Steve Kennedy said teacher salaries are directly related to a disparity in state funding districts receive based on the percentage of “disadvantaged” students they have. In essence, he is saying that with the influx of young families purchasing new homes in the city, Menifee doesn’t get its fair share of the supplemental funding it needs.
“Unfortunately, under the new local control funding formula, Menifee is a loser,” said Kennedy, referring to changes in recent years by the state legislature. “We don’t have the number of what are called ‘unduplicated count students’ – kids who would be eligible for reduced fee lunches, English language learners, foster youth. Those kids that are in high concentrations in other places generate an additional 30 percent of base funding."
"If you look at the so-called 'loser districts,' as Dr. Kennedy referred to in the last meeting -- Temecula, Murrieta, Corona/Norco and ourselves -- we are very undervalued for what we do," Clark said. "These other so-called 'loser' districts have still been able to show their teachers they are highly valued, while Menifee continues to make its teachers work without contracts, to worry about what they will be making from year to year."
The public comments included a passionate plea by Rachael Greenstein, a first grade teacher at Ridgemoor Elementary School. Greenstein said she grew up attending Menifee schools, receiving many academic awards, and that MUSD was the only district she ever wanted to teach for. Now, she says, that pride in her district is diminishing.
"I believe the students of Menifee are worth fighting for," said Greenstein (below). "I believe my district is worth fighting for. I ask you, what will it take for you to hear us? What is more important than your own educators standing before you, begging to be heard?"
Teachers will remain on the job as both sides come to the negotiating table next week.
