Fresno Teachers, School District Agree To New Deal Less Than 24 Hours Before Strike Was To Begin

The Fresno Teachers Association (FTA) and the Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) reached an agreement on a new contract on Tuesday, avoiding a district-wide strike that was set to begin on Wednesday.

For the last 18 months, the district and the union have been negotiating a new contract. While pay raises were a major concern for teachers, with the FTA wanting them tied with inflation and the cost of living index they also said that they wanted reduced class sizes, special education caseloads, and keeping health benefits for life. The district, meanwhile, warned of money issues in the coming years, especially if some bonds don’t go through, and pushed for some cuts.

With a November 1st deadline approaching, and both sides still far away going into late October, the FTA voted to authorize a strike on October 24th, with 92% of teachers in favor. FTA President Manuel Bonilla also resorted to stunts to garner attention, such as ripping in half an older deal in front of thousands of teachers. The FUSD, meanwhile, prepared for a long-term strike by offering substitute teachers $500 a day in strike pay.

That high amount attracted a large number of teachers, causing the FTA to worry about strike effectiveness since enough strikebreakers could come on board and not delay the school year at all. However, as the strike pay amount was so high, the district began to grow concerned with how much that aspect of it would cost them. An announcement by the city substitute teachers group that they would not be crossing the picket line a few days later only further complicated matters.

In an incredible display of solidarity, the Fresno Area Substitute Teachers Association (FASTA) @SEIU521 has voted to stand with the Fresno Teachers Association and NOT cross the picket line. pic.twitter.com/oNKs0P01mk

— Fresno Teachers! (@fresnota) October 26, 2023

Those issues, along with increased public and city pressure, brought both sides to intensify negotiations over the past week, including working over the weekend. Their efforts succeeded on Tuesday, with both sides announcing that a tentative agreement had been reached.

According to the new contract, teacher salaries are to go up by 21% over the next 3 years, with an 8.5% raise to be applied this year, 3% the next year, followed by 4.5% in 2025-2026. A 2.5% one time payment would then also be applied in the next two years, leaving the average teachers salary at around $105,000 by the end of the contract. However, the raises would go in up in part because of cuts to the teacher’s  healthcare fund. While lifetime medical benefits would also now be applied, overall healthcare costs would likely go up for teachers as a result.

In addition, class size ratios were set at between 23 and 28 students for every teacher, depending on the grade. For any class size going over the ratio, teachers will receive a bonus in pay. A comprehensive guideline for special education caseloads was also added in. The District also got some cuts to the budget beginning next year, although none of the planned $30 to $40 million in cuts would come in the form of layoffs or removal of teaching positions.

A deal reached less than 24 hours before the strike deadline

While the teachers will still have to vote on the new deal later this month to make the new contract official, both the union and the district praised that a strike was averted on Tuesday. Both sides also claimed victory for their respective sides.

“Fresno Unified and the Fresno Teachers Association have reached a tentative agreement that we will be signing this morning right here in front of Historic Royce Hall at Fresno High,” said FUSD Superintendent Bob Nelson. “Our students have been the innocent bystanders waiting through the difficulties of negotiations. This deal is really about you students: it’s our joint commitment to avoid a strike because there’s really nothing more important than making sure our students have the opportunity to be in school every day, all the time.”

Conversely, Bonilla added that “This is absolutely a historic deal, this is probably the most historic deal in our association’s history. Ultimately, the students win. As educators and as a community, we’ve made it clear that students thrive when educators thrive. And educators thrive when leaders value their hard work — when they value that tireless dedication to adequate support.

“No doubt there needs to be some healing for everybody, but really, that healing will transform this district and hopefully have a different culture – a collaborative culture that is authentic – moving forward.”

Education experts told the Globe that while there have been several teachers strikes in the past few years, the trend in recent months has been to negotiate before a strike takes place, as they want to avoid prolonged strikes that have recently occurred elsewhere, such as in the entertainment industry.

“Fresno avoided a strike, and you can tell both sides gave a huge sigh of relief,”  said Hank Poole, an education budget advisor. “Sacramento and LA had strikes in the past few years, and you can tell that it weighed down on them. But there have recently been a lot of prolonged strikes. WGA lasted months, UAW lasted over a month, and SAG-AFTRA is still going on. And that’s just naming the more well known ones. Teachers unions have been increasingly wanting to avoid this sort of thing. San Francisco, for example, really got a deal in place fast once the word strike came up.”

“In Fresno, it was down to the wire, but it showed that willingness to get it done. And both sides were playing hardball. You don’t offer subs $500 a day unless you mean it. Both sides knew they were going to be in for a hard time, so they moved fast.”

A vote on the new deal in Fresno is expected soon.