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# Teachers to get payday after delays
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/teachers-to-get-payday-after-delays/
- Published: 2007-03-15T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:14:38.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Education, Malibu, #archive-import

*Not all on board as district strikes deal with its teachers*

SMMUSD HDQTRS After months of waiting, teachers in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District are expected to receive a pay raise tonight that will enable them to buy those shiny new pencils and pricier organic apples they’ve had their eyes on.

The Board of Education is expected to ratify a contract with the Santa Monica- Malibu Classroom Teachers Association that would grant a one-time 5-percent salary raise, retroactive to July 1, 2006.

It’s been almost five months since both parties reached a tentative agreement on the terms of the contract in October. Dreams of having the contract ratified late last year were put on hold when it was learned in a financial report to the Los Angeles County Office of Education that the district would be unable to support the pay raise in the coming years.

Last month, the state’s Fiscal Crisis & Management Team (FCMAT) found the district could indeed sustain the required special reserve fund level of 3 percent of the total budget over the next three years if the raise is granted.

“We came to a settlement that is fair and is responsible, and we believe the pay raise for the teachers is much deserved, long overdue and commensurate with the pay raises afforded to other teachers in LA County this year,” said Harry Keiley, president of the Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Association.

The agreement has been a long time coming, according to school board Vice President Oscar de la Torre, who was involved in the negotiations with the teachers union. While the board is aware that there is a “structural deficit looming,” the residents of Santa Monica and Malibu expect the highest quality teachers to help their children grow,he said.

“We, as a school board, are committed to delivering that excellence in the classroom and attracting the best and brightest minds to teach in our school district. It is the most important investment we can make,” de la Torre said.

Several residents have spoken out against the teacher salary raise in previous meetings, including Financial Oversight Committee The FCMAT report does not account for unforeseen expenditures or revenues, which means the district could be in the red or very close to a deficit if there is an emergency requiring the board to dip into its special reserves. At the Feb. 15 meeting, Silvern, along with several members of the public, warned that the district will be living on the edge if the contract is approved. At the end of the second year after the contract is approved, there will be less than $900,000 in free cash to carry over into fiscal year 2009- 10 that’s above and beyond the 3-percent reserve fund level, Silvern said.

“The FCMAT projection assumes there is no additional salary increases for teachers over that three-year period,” Silvern said on Wednesday. The administrators and classified staff are expected to begin negotiations with the board within the next few years.

“It also doesn’t account for potential increases in revenue as a result of changes of the state budget or negotiations with the city of Santa Monica,” Silvern said.

The average teacher salary in the district is $63,000 — an amount that might not be considered enough to live in a city like Santa Monica.

“Even with a respectable raise, our teachers still find it difficult to rent in Santa Monica and dreams of home ownership is simply out of reach for teachers in the LA region,” Keiley said.

The cost of living has driven teachers away from the district, which has hired, on average, 80 teachers a year for the past four years — representing about 40 percent of faculty in the district.

Approximately 55 percent of teachers in the district have worked here for less than 10 years.

“We are finding teachers are unable to afford to stay in the profession,” Keiley said. “They’re finding it more and more difficult.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 15, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/031507.pdf?ref=smdp.com)