10 Sep Contra Costa Districts Kick Off School Year With Calls for Increased Pay, Threat of Strike

Kennedy High School students in Richmond staged walkouts in March in protest of West Contra Costa Unified School district budget cuts. (Denis Perez-Bravo / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

All the while battling student nerves, immigration enforcement concerns and budget woes, Contra Costa County school district employees opened the school year with continued calls for better pay and benefits. At least one union could strike if it doesn’t get what it wants.

Unions representing employees in the Antioch, Pittsburg and West Contra Costa school districts opened or upped the stakes of contract negotiations in recent weeks as the three also contend with declining enrollment and staffing shortages.

Antioch Unified

Classified employees in the Antioch Unified School District want equitable raises, ensured protection against retaliation, and the option of no-cost healthcare, according to a proposal from the union.

The Antioch chapter of the California School Employees Association, which represents paraprofessionals, maintenance workers and other staff, also asks that more than 25 different topics be discussed during negotiations. CSEA requested that safe working conditions, artificial intelligence, and clarifications to disciplinary procedures be some of the topics discussed.

Before starting the year, the district faced a $43.5 million multiyear deficit over the next two school years — $35.8 million this school year alone.

Officials balanced the budget using planned reductions and reserves. AUSD said in a school board memo that the deficit will be resolved in the 2026-27 school year, which includes around $6 million in planned reductions that year.

The district projects that it will only generate $285,775,341 in revenue for the 2025-26 school year, compared to $321,611,140 in expenses. Revenue decreased by more than $13.1 million from the 2024-25 school year, according to district data.

Unlike similar districts mirroring a statewide and nationwide enrollment decline that affects funding, AUSD saw a slight increase in students from the 2023-24 school year to 2024-25. Enrollment increased from 16,045 to 16,199, data from the California Department of Education shows.

In charge of ensuring the deficit resolves is Superintendent Darnise Williams, who officials appointed in June after going through three other leaders in the last two years. Williams takes over as the district looks to build community trust following allegations that former Superintendent Stephanie Anello mishandled employee bullying.

The district also appointed Camille Johnson, a former associate superintendent with the West Contra Costa Unified School District, as its new associate superintendent of human resources in August. Johnson led some contract negotiations with unions during her time at WCCUSD.

Pittsburg Unified

Classified employees in the Pittsburg Unified School District are asking for affordable healthcare and fair wages as they continue negotiations.

The Pittsburg chapter of CSEA said its requests would attract and retain “excellent and dedicated” employees, according to its proposal.

PUSD said in its own proposal that it sought to “continue attracting and retaining excellent employees” while “preserving the long-term fiscal solvency of the District.”

The union and the district will also discuss overtime and employee leave during negotiations.

The district faced a $20.3 million multiyear deficit, according to an October 2024 report. The school board OK’d $8.3 million in cuts to the 2025-26 school year budget in February. Another $8.4 million is planned for the 2026-27 school year.

Board members sidestepped cuts to vice principal positions that they said would have saved other jobs. Instead, members opted to make cuts to suspension aides and restorative justice facilitators after pushback from community members.

The cuts are part of a plan to reduce the impacts of the loss of one-time COVID funding, rising costs for special education, and declining enrollment. Enrollment and attendance help fund district operations.

The Pittsburg Education Association, representing district teachers, faced challenges of its own with PUSD during its negotiations earlier in the year. PEA declared an impasse on March 4 before the case was resolved three days later, according to filings with the California Public Employees Relations Board.

PEA wants to enter talks on improving the language concerning or working conditions in a handful of categories: class sizes, pay and benefits, and safety conditions, according to a Sept. 10 proposal. PUSD is proposing talks of its own around employee benefits and pay.

West Contra Costa Unified 

After months of negotiation talks, unions representing teachers and certain classified staff took a vital step before a strike could take place.

The United Teachers of Richmond and Teamsters Local 856, which represents paraprofessionals, food service and custodial workers, and others, had an impasse declared on their negotiations with the district. The move requires that PERB find a mediator for the two sides in both talks to come to an agreement.

The requests come months after UTR and Local 856 filed various unfair labor charges against WCCUSD for allegedly failing to bargain in good faith during negotiations.

UTR, which declared an impasse Aug. 20, alleged that the district is bargaining in bad faith and unlawfully interfering with the legal rights of educators. The union claims that WCCUSD has delayed or canceled sessions and not offered counterproposals in some cases.

Teamsters also declared an impasse, according to a document filed on Sept. 2 with PERB.

In a statement, Superintendent Cheryl Cotton reassured community members that the district’s “shared commitment to students and their learning remains unchanged.”

“Together, We Are One West Contra Costa, and we will continue to move forward as a community throughout our negotiation process,” Cotton said in a Sept. 8 update. “The District remains committed to good-faith bargaining and to working toward a fair, fiscally responsible agreement that supports students, staff, and the long-term stability of our schools.”

The district, battling what it has called a structural budget deficit, cut almost 170 positions in February as part of a multiyear plan to keep local control of its finances.

UTR and hundreds of supporters, including students and some members of the Richmond City Council, have questioned the district’s management of its finances.

UTR leaders asked Richmond City Council in February to conduct an independent analysis of the district’s finances because, the union alleged, it was “manipulating these numbers in a way that strikes fear in the district,” as Vice President Gabby Micheletti said then.

The union has said that cuts to positions, many of which are already understaffed, are not necessary because of the amount of money in the district’s budget reserves. Former interim Superintendent Kim Moses maintained that reserves would be mostly “exhausted” because of the fiscal solvency plan.

UTR and the district have been at an impasse in negotiations every year since 2022. But each time, even when authorized by union members in 2022, a strike has been averted.

UTR’s latest contract expired at the end of June.