Coronado school officials told teachers this week the district cannot meet a demand for 10% more pay because the community’s education budget is already being depleted due to underfunding.
At a June 6 meeting – with more than a dozen members of the Association of Coronado Teachers (ACT) outside protesting – trustees and administrators said the district already is eating into reserves and will run out of money if substantial pay increases are granted.
They said the district, which in the 2027-2028 school year is shifting to a new revenue system known as “basic aid,” cannot afford to wipe out reserves before that formula kicks in with more money.
“We are deficit spending for the next several years, and so until we get to basic aid, we need all of that funding to be able to keep us solvent,” said Trustee Alexia Palacios-Peters, “because we don’t bring in enough money from these funds to support the programming and services that we put past.”
Outside, members of the ACT waved signs that read “Honk for our teachers,” “More work for more pay is not a pay raise,” and “Pay our teachers protect our kids” and other messages.
They contend San Diego’s high cost of living and their low salaries is causing an exodus of quality educators that will undermine the district’s promise of high-quality education.
School administrators have rejected the teachers’ union push for 10% pay increases with a proposed 6.07% wage increase, which ACT rejected. Since then, negotiations have stalled.
ACT President Voices Concerns Over Teachers’ Financial Struggles
At the June 6 meeting, during the public hearing on the 2024-2025 proposed budget, ACT President Jennifer Landry said she knows ACT colleagues who work multiple other jobs and rely on local food banks to “be able to come here every day.”
“They love their job; they love their kids,” Landry added. “They just don’t love what they have to do outside of their jobs in order to be able to stay here.”
Amanda Evans, a Coronado parent who has three children at Village Elementary School, asked the board whether the district’s $12 million in reserve funds could be used until the district got back to basic aid.
Palacios-Peters said the district already is pulling money from a reserve maintenance fund, but cannot afford to spend even more.
According to the school district’s Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), CUSD’s 2024-2025 projected total revenue stands at $53,254,557.
Trustee Whitney Antrim said CUSD is 40th out of 42 school districts in San Diego County in terms of per-pupil funding.
“Yes, we are grossly underfunded, and so we are trying to run and operate a school district that outperforms that type of funding,” Antrim said. “Now, it’s being pointed at us, saying that we have all this money saved up … but if we spend it now, we won’t have enough to get to basic aid.”
Salamanca said the budget plan is a preliminary draft that can be revised.
Salamanca encouraged for community members to attend the budget meeting on June 18 and said there will be a more comprehensive budget presentation at the June 20 board meeting.
“It’s an opportunity to have an open table conversation, ask us anything,” he added.
During the board member comments, Antrim emphasized the collective responsibilities and challenges faced by the board, stating, “We all have a role in this, and while these are some of the hardest discussions that we have at the board meetings, it is the real work of this job, it’s why we’re here,” Antrim said. “The reality is, as a society, we don’t value public education. And until we have leaders that do – and understand that the greater good has an immense value that needs to have funds allocated towards it – we are stuck with some really unpleasant decision-making.”
In other matters
- The school board gave Coronado High School’s (CHS) Stop the Sewage Club an award as club of the year.
- CHS rising senior Dylan Matter was introduced as the new student body president and CUSD student representative for the 2024-2025 academic term.
- Landry and the governing board honored the life of the late CUSD substitute teacher, Leah Beske.
- The board approved three teachers — Jodi Judd and Laurel Wheeler of Silver Strand Elementary School and Rise Cooley of Village Elementary School — to be a part of the Early Retirement Reduced Workload Program in the following school year.
A budget meeting is scheduled June 18 at 3:30 p.m. and the next regular board meeting is scheduled June 20 at 4 p.m. in the CUSD board room.
