A Cost of Living Adjustment for our Teachers - Unreasonable?

A request by the teachers of LCUSD for a cost of living adjustment (COLA) has been labeled as being "unreasonable".  The following examples are intended to illustrate what a 2% salary increase would represent:

Annual Salary
 Monthly Increase
$38,500
 $65
$45,000 $90
$62,000 $124

The La Cañada Teachers Association has been maligned in the press for being unreasonable in our desire to negotiate with the district for a COLA. We actually believe that our request is not only reasonable but is also well deserved. The teachers, counselors, psychologists, speech pathologists and nurse have been working for the past three years without a COLA.  Furthermore, without an increase in salary, the members of our staff who are nearing retirement will be unable to increase their salary for the entirety of their retirement - retirement pay is indexed to a teacher's final annual salary.

The obvious question is: Does the district have enough money to pay teachers a COLA?

Yes, the answer is yes! The district received a funded increase from the state this year of 3.57% for their entire annual budget.  In addition, they currently have 8.8% ($2,602,519) of the annual budget set aside in reserve funds, when the state only recommends that 3% ($877,222) be set aside. There is plenty of money to provide teachers with a much overdue salary increase.  Keep in mind that a 1% increase in salary for teachers, counselors, psychologists, speech pathologists and nurse costs the district $140,000.  Therefore a 0.5% COLA would cost the district $72,000, a 2% COLA would cost the district $280,000, and a 5% COLA would be $720,000.  Yes, there is more than enough money in the current district budget!

Costs are rising all around us and teachers deserve an increase too.  Everyday that the cost of living increases, our salaries become less valuable.  We make many sacrifices as teachers, but our families should not have to make sacrifices too.

Who's being unreasonable here?

March 8, 2005 - Return to LCTA homepage