Fact Finding Report Supports District's Compensation Offer to CSEA

As we reported last October, the Long Beach Unified School District and the California School Employees Association (CSEA) mutually agreed to file a request for “fact finding” in order to resolve the dispute on compensation figures for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. As a reminder, fact finding is a process overseen by the state Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) where an independent panel presents a written summary of the facts presented by both sides, and makes recommendations for how to resolve a dispute when both parties have been unable to reach an agreement during the initial mediation stage. 

The fact finding panel has now issued its “Fact Finding Discussion and Recommendations” report. This report clearly supports the District’s compensation offer for the disputed years. The offer, which is comparable to the same salary increases that teachers and other employees already have accepted, is as follows:

Each CSEA unit member would receive:

• A 1% ongoing salary increase retroactive to July 1, 2019
• A 2% ongoing salary increase retroactive to July 1, 2020
• A $1,100 one-time payment for each unit member, paid proportional to employment status in 2020-21. (This amount represents approximately the same cost as a 2% one-time payment the District had proposed, the report states.)

The salary increases detailed above are in addition to any potential compensation increase for the 2021-22 year, which has yet to be negotiated with CSEA. 

Examples of how the combination of the 1% and 2% raises would benefit CSEA members of varying salaries are provided here. These amounts are in addition to any retroactive checks and the one-time payment:

IMPORTANT: At the next regular Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, April 13, the District will present the Board members with the fact finding Chair’s report. The Board may choose to accept and approve the report’s recommendations. In the meantime, LBUSD has communicated with CSEA that the District is still willing to try and reach an agreement prior to the April 13 Board of Education meeting.

During fact finding, CSEA and the District presented evidence relating to their position to a three-member panel consisting of one person selected by each party and a chairperson either selected by PERB, or jointly selected by CSEA and the District. The panel was charged with coordinating the submission of relevant evidence and issuing findings and recommendations based on criteria outlined in the Government Code.

As noted in a previous update, CSEA and the District have reached agreement on contract language for all major items except compensation.

The compensation offer presented to CSEA by the District was based on a number of factors including:

• The adopted state budget funding allocations for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years.
• Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) issued by the state for 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years totaling 3.26%. 
• Increasing health and welfare benefits costs that included a per employee average increase of 15.5% between the end of the 2018-19 school year and the 2020-21 school year.
• Ongoing declining enrollment including a loss of 3,000-plus students during the past two years.
• Comparability to raises issued in surrounding districts.
• Matching the compensation offer already accepted by TALB to maintain the decades-long practice of parity in raises for all LBUSD employees.
• Ensuring that the District remains fiscally sound in the coming years.
• Including the current compensation offer, LBUSD employees have received ongoing raises totaling 21% since 2013-14, outpacing the State Consumer Price Index (CPI) totaling 19.34%. This increase has occurred despite COLA totaling just 10.97% over the same time frame.

The District looks forward to providing CSEA members a competitive compensation package that reflects their hard work and dedication while also allowing LBUSD to support all students in their academic journey.