Manteca Unified is avoiding the acrimony that plagues many of California’s 937 school districts when it comes to salary negotiations.

The reason is simple.

Teachers, support staff, and the school board agreed in 2019 not to haggle over how much of all new cost of living adjustment (COLA) dollars from the State of California will go to teacher as well as classified salaries and benefits

The board and the Manteca Educators Association along with support staff bargaining units agreed to a plan that sets aside 85 percent of new COLA dollars to employee salaries and benefits.

And how that money is applied to salaries and benefits is collectively left up to the bargaining units acting on behalf of the teachers and support staff.

The 85 percent is not an arbitrary number.

It is based historically on how much of the district’s general fund budget goes to cover salaries and benefits.

The remaining 15 percent covers everything from classroom and maintenance supplies to books, computers, educational materials, energy costs, and more.

The original master agreement with the foundational cornerstone of the 85 percent provision was hammered out in 2019. Two years ago, it was extended through 2029.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t negotiations that occur each year. They do on a wide array of issues from workplace rules to the school calendar.

It has even included one time stipends that aren’t added to salary steps going forward.

Removing how new COLA funds are split between personnel costs and other expenses has avoided the animosity that can arise when negotiating pay that often results in public meeting clashes with school boards, informational pickets and even strikes.

As such, the 85 percent solution provides stability for everyone involved, especially students.

The lack of upheaved over negotiations doesn’t distract from the classroom.

And the process assures the district either has the highest compensation rate in the region or close to it.

What that means is less teacher turnover and — when wedded with endeavors that have placed the latest educational tools in the classrooms as well the effort underway to modernize school facilities for the needs and demands of 21st century education — it helps give the district an edge in securing new teachers.

It is based on a simple and undeniable premise.

Historically, 85 percent of all COLA funds the district receives had ended up going to salaries and benefits of employees after each year or so of going through endless offers and counteroffers in negotiations.

The end result in terms of “constant dollars” — the year the 85 percent set side started — is that teachers have beaten the rate of inflation.

That said, it has barely outpaced the accumulative rate of inflation, but it does beat inflation.

And it doesn’t mean teachers don’t get actual pay raises per se.

An example pointed out when the master agreement was extended in 2024 was a teacher hired 10 years prior at the first step on the salary schedule.

They gained 23.8 percent in their starting salary from the 85 percent set aside from the COLA set aside plus 23.4 percent increase across salary steps.

The teacher’s salary compensation, in the example, reflects a 47 percent increase in 10 years.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com