June 13, 2022
Earlier this morning during a Special Board meeting, the Natomas Unified School District (NUSD) Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve the agreement. We’re proud that Natomas Unified School District (NUSD) and Natomas Teachers Association (NTA) moved swiftly to settle a 2-year agreement that allows both parties to keep moving forward in a positive direction, take opportunities to rest and rejuvenate over the summer, and focus on what’s most important – students. This would not have happened without the growing labor relations NUSD and NTA have established. Within just six bargaining sessions, the teams were able to mutually agree and successfully advocate for areas of interest.
This agreement reinforces the district’s Core Values. It is the fastest agreement NUSD and NTA have come to in 15+ years. It is the largest 2-year compensation increase for certificated staff. Classified leaders already negotiated a strong 3-year agreement that results in the same ongoing salary increase and increased contribution for health/welfare benefits over the next 2 years. Even with these additions, not one student instructional minute was negotiated away or lost. There are also both fiscal and human resources in place to address the significant learning recovery needs that await us in 2022-23.
Details of some of the items in the agreement that may be of interest to our community are reflected below:
Salaries
For 2022-2023, NTA members will receive a 5.5% salary increase, the opportunity to earn a 1% one-time payment for professional development, and a $400 one-time payment for Anti-racist/Anti-bias training if it’s completed outside of the work day.
For 2023-2024, NTA members will receive an additional 5% salary increase and another 1% opportunity to earn a 1% one-time payment for professional development.
We were also able to augment longevity pay for relevant employees within NTA as we were also able to do for CSEA.
We will provide an annual payment of $5,000 to Special Education Teachers in self-contained classrooms which will help us to retain and recruit these hard-to-fill positions.
Benefits
NUSD will increase its contribution to health and welfare plans for NTA members, to reduce members’ out-of-pocket costs and to help counteract the increasing rise in healthcare costs.
NTA has agreed to participate in a health benefits committee to explore potential health care plans/savings for members and present its findings for consideration.
We were also able to agree to provide up to 20 days of paid pregnancy disability leave (if needed for related disability, if needed).
Other Areas of Interest
NTA agreed to establish a teacher work day calendar committee and to work with the district on future work year calendars on a bi-annual basis so families and staff are able to plan vacations, events, and other important dates.
Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten Instructional Assistant hours were increased to 6.5 hours to support these classrooms for the entire school day.
Natomas Unified looks to develop and start a new system for learning recovery beginning in the fall. This agreement allows time and energy to turn to that important work for our students.
NUSD Communications
