NUSD Staff & Community,
You may be aware that we are in the middle of negotiations with Natomas Teacher Association (NTA) which started back in February. Last night at the board meeting, there were several public comments regarding the status of negotiations. We wanted to ensure that our staff had the most accurate information. We value our staff and do not want them to have the sense that the district is not meaningfully engaged in the negotiations process to finalize a contract for the 25-26 school year.
NTA is part of a statewide campaign with the California Teachers Association (CTA) called We Can’t Wait, that includes teachers’ unions in over 30 school districts. At the end of September, only two districts that are a part of this campaign had reached an agreement. Prior to NTA joining the We Can’t Wait campaign, our negotiation history since the 2020-2021 school year consistently resulted in timely settlements, with certificated staff receiving a total of 19% in ongoing raises during that time period. While we acknowledge that we do not have the highest salary range in the region, we are solidly in the middle to upper half. We continually look at our comparability with other districts in the region and look for opportunities to address ongoing teacher compensation while maintaining fiscal solvency as a district.
When it was clear after 10 sessions in the spring that negotiations would need to continue beyond the end of the 24-25 school year, we offered to continue negotiating over the summer months to provide more time to work together through this process; however, that offer was declined by NTA leadership and unfortunately, negotiations did not resume until the school year started with two and a half months in between sessions. Since then, we have been actively negotiating, having met four times, with four more sessions scheduled in the coming weeks (we had a fifth scheduled for this Friday, which NTA leadership canceled). The fact that we still have these future dates planned made it especially shocking to hear that NTA leadership has said that negotiations have stalled.
In the meantime, please be assured that the contract that is currently posted on the district’s website is still in full effect until a successor agreement is reached. We have heard that certificated staff have been told they are working without a contract which is not accurate.
Our next negotiation session with NTA is next week, and we will continue to provide updates to staff on our progress. We value our staff and want to continue to move forward negotiating productively in a way that benefits our staff, but most importantly our students.
