Still no agreement between Berkeley teachers, BUSD

BUSD staff and community members rallied during last week’s school board meeting, demanding the district prioritize contract talks and avoid a strike. Educator union efforts are picking up statewide as part of the “We Can’t Wait” campaign. Credit: Vanessa Arredondo/Berkeleyside

Contract talks between the Berkeley teachers union and the school district are continuing into February as educator negotiations heat up statewide, with teachers across the bridge in San Francisco striking for the first time since the 1970s this week.

The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) and the Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT) reached an impasse in contract negotiations in December, prompting a state-mediated process.

Mediations last month failed to produce an agreement, so both parties will now move to fact-finding, with a hearing scheduled for Feb. 20. A panel will review evidence and issue a public report as negotiations continue. Ten days after that report is released, the teacher’s union can begin deciding whether they will strike. A strike authorization vote, followed by a vote to formally strike are needed.

BFT is asking for higher salaries, more robust benefits and smaller class sizes to reduce teacher turnover. The district is trying to bounce back from a $7.6 million budget deficit, with BUSD staff expecting more challenges and possible layoffs this school year.

About a couple hundred teachers, classified staff and families rallied at Wednesday’s school board meeting, demanding that BUSD prioritize ongoing contract negotiations to avoid a strike.

“We’re almost at a year from when we started with no meaningful movements on compensation and health care,” BFT President Matt Meyer told Berkeleyside. “The elephant in the room is how we are going to make sure that our teachers and classified staff can remain in this community.”

While the union is still hoping to reach an agreement, Meyer told the board on Wednesday that an informal poll by BFT showed that 94% of site-based educators said they are willing to go on strike if necessary.

“After fact-finding, our last tool — which is a tool we don’t want to use — would be to withhold our labor,” Meyer said. “If we end up going on strike, it’s because our hand is forced.”

BFT members said about 275 teachers signed in at Wednesday’s rally. Those figures do not include other local unions and community members who attended the board meeting in support. Credit: Vanessa Arredondo/Berkeleyside

Educator union efforts are picking up statewide as part of the “We Can’t Wait” campaign organized by the California Teachers Association. In recent years, the CTA has pushed to align contracts to end on the same date, in order to add pressure on districts in areas where multiple unions would be negotiating and could potentially strike at once.

According to the organization, 32 school unions across the state are in contract negotiations, representing 77,000 educators serving 1 million students. At least 12 have reached an impasse, according to EdSource. At nine districts, teachers have voted to strike or have imminent plans to. The United Teachers of Richmond staged a four-day strike in December, with educators and West Contra Costa Unified agreeing on an 8% raise over two years and a commitment to fully fund employee healthcare by the 2027-28 school year.

Berkeley educators represented by the union began the school year on an expired labor contract, which was ratified in 2022 and ended on June 30. The district and BFT have met 17 times since Nov. 20 to negotiate a new contract, without success, according to the teachers’ union. BFT represents 900 teachers, counselors, substitutes, school psychologists, and librarians at BUSD.

In December, BUSD said the district and union reached tentative agreements on 13 of 21 negotiation items. Both parties agreed on items related to preschool class sizes, elementary school report card due dates, and substitute teacher compensation. But health coverage and higher wages were still on the negotiation table.

The lowest teacher salary offered at BUSD was about $56,000 in 2024-25, compared with just over$62,000 in Oakland, according to BUSD’s website. Salaries in some other Alameda County school districts are significantly higher. For example, Fremont Unified educator pay started at $85,000 in 2025-26.

The California Department of Education’s most recent data, from the 2023-24 academic year, show the average salary of a BUSD teacher was just above $100,000, falling between the $86,000 and $116,000 averages earned by teachers at Oakland Unified and Fremont Unified, respectively. Salaries at BUSD and other districts are mostly determined by an educator’s credential status, education level completed and service time.

BFT proposed a 5% salary increase for this year and the next to align with neighboring districts, according to the union. (BUSD has not shared an update on negotiations since December.) The current contract with BUSD covers 56% of teacher healthcare costs.

Mollie Blustein, a third-grade teacher at Cragmont Elementary and BFT member, told Berkeleyside that educators received an offer through the January mediation to increase salary and benefits by 1%. Blustein said the offer “essentially is a pay cut” as it does not keep pace with rising costs.

“If we’re going to make that drastic move to strike and cancel school for students, we want to make sure that it’s going to be because there’s no other option and we’ve tried all the other avenues first,” Blustein said.

Teachers and community members rally during last week’s school board meeting
BFT President Matt Meyer speaks to a crowd of BUSD teachers, staff and families during a rally before Wednesday’s school board meeting. Credit: Vanessa Arredondo

Hundreds of people rallied outside the boardroom half an hour before the meeting began on Wednesday. BUSD teachers handed out signs and gave pizza to students, staff and community members at the building’s entrance on Addison Street.

Once the meeting began, Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel estimated that 150 community members had packed the room. Blustein said about 275 BFT members signed in at the rally. She said these numbers did not include classified employees, members of the Service Employees International Union Local 1021, or the community members who attended in support.

Teachers during the meeting talked about low wages, the high cost of health care, and being unable to afford living in Berkeley.

My family “can only afford to purchase a home in Hercules, a 45-minute to one-hour commute each way,” Lucero Lupercio, a third-grade teacher at Sylvia Mendez Elementary School, said during public comment. “I know that many teachers at my site and district have similar circumstances. BUSD needs to be responsive to our needs as we are constantly responsive to our students’ needs in our classroom.”

BUSD teachers spoke during public comment on Wednesday, urging the district to address low wages and high healthcare costs in the next contract. Credit: Vanessa Arredondo/Berkeleyside

Students and parents also spoke to the board in support of better educator pay and benefits.

“Throughout my career as a student, I have seen countless teachers leave because they are not being paid enough, and that is not OK,” Berkeley High School senior Maisie Matthews said during public comment.

“We as students feel the direct effects of underfunded schools in our own education. By not funding teachers, you are disinvesting in your children’s education,” BHS sophomore and junior presidents Jordan Katz and Jane Kelly said in a joint statement during public comment.

Board members do not usually respond to public comments, and most did not remark on contract negotiations on Wednesday.

Student board director Armana Aradom, a BHS student, said her teachers “give beyond what is required of them. Our teachers deserve not only a livable wage, but one that accounts for the additional work they do every day.”

Later Wednesday night, during a special meeting to workshop BUSD’s fiscal planning for the year, board member Jennifer Shanoski said, “I think we’re all interested in fully funding our aftercare … transportation, and giving raises and benefits to all of our employees, and we are not given the resources.”

Still no agreement between Berkeley teachers, BUSD

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