Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

Your local teachers need the public’s help. The Manteca School District received a funding increase to their budget this year of 20% or $24 million and has offered the teachers 0%. The teachers asked for 10% which would amount to $11 million if every single employee in MUSD received 10%, leaving the district with $13 million in new money. Yet, 85% of the school district budget is devoted to staff salaries and budget because you need people to run the schools. The school board meeting is this Tuesday, March 3, at 7 p.m. We are asking the public to attend the meeting to show support for their teachers. If they can, we are asking them also to Wear Red for Ed.

This is also Parent-Teacher Conference Week in the elementary schools. It would be a huge morale boost for your teacher if a parent showed up for their child’s conference wearing red. 

After 3 straight years of giving up 4% in pay during the state budget crisis to help the school district avoid bankruptcy, you would think the school board would have some decency and want to show their thanks to their employees. Other than last year when they received 5.5%, your local teachers haven’t had a raise in over ten years. Inflation alone in the last ten years is 21.4%. Teachers pay 8.5% out of pocket of their pay into their pension system. Teachers also pay $900 out of pocket for their health care insurance. Teachers pay several hundred dollars out of their own pockets to pay for classroom supplies since the district only provides $100 to $250 for teacher classroom supplies, depending on the school.

This year, teachers are being asked by the school district to teach the new Common Core standards, implement a new Math and Language Arts curriculum simultaneously, and the enormous undertaking of the Going Digital project. The district invested $30 million in the Going Digital project. Don’t you think the school district would want to keep the best and the brightest employees to teach your kids? Don’t your kids deserve the best and the brightest? The competition for the best teachers should be fierce just like the teams competing for the best quarterback. And yet, when education is everything to a child, your school board thinks ZERO of your teachers.

People don’t become teachers for the money, but for the school board to say we are worth ZERO is a slap in the face. Please attend tomorrow’s school board meeting at 7 p.m. at the school district office and remember to Wear Red for Ed and remind your school board you are voters. Thank you.

Ken Johnson

MEA President

help@mantecateachers.com

www.mantecateachers.com