/Sunnyvale

According to Sunnyvale district officials, labor negotiations with the Sunnyvale Education Association and the California School Employees Association (CSEA) are nearing an end. By a closed session meeting with the school board May 5, negotiations were wrapped up with the SEA and negotiations with the CSEA were continued to July.

Sunnyvale has been one of very few districts in the county that have not increased class size, implemented furlough days or laid off teachers, which is due to a combination of a large budget reserve, reductions in some staff and services and employees not taking any salary increase for several years.

The district wants to ensure that there will be no layoffs or changes in benefits for the 659 teachers and school employees represented by both associations.

"The initial proposals for both groups—teachers and classified employees—were both centered around preserving jobs and services and to try to maintain the status quo in terms of employment compensation," assistant superintendent of human resources Michael Gallagher said. "The bulk of the work with the teachers association has already been accomplished. We didn't have to start working with them until March, but we started last fall, which is very proactive and really a tribute to the teachers."

The SEA and the district agreed to increase the K-3 student-teacher ratio from 20 to 1 to 23 to 1, beginning in the 2011-12 school year. It is anticipated that staffing at 23 to 1 will allow for savings of around $1 million annually.

The district is counting on accomplishing class size increases with about 23 fewer teachers, who will leave in 2011-12 through attrition. It is also working with the CSEA to maintain salaries and benefits at current levels. Both associations account for about 83 percent of the district's budget, about $49 million annually.