Modesto City Schools teachers get 6 percent deal

The deal Modesto City Schools offered its teachers after a marathon 14-hour bargaining session Friday includes a 4 percent raise retroactive to July 1, a 1.7 percent hike effective Jan. 1 and a 0.3 percent increase in health benefits.

Teachers still have to vote on the 2015-16 contract, as do trustees, likely at their next meeting Feb. 29.

If it stands, the deal will have averted a strike threatened as increasingly contentious negotiations dragged on, long into the school year the contract will address.

The deal’s multipart language leaves a question about whether it would trigger so-called “me too” clauses in contracts of other bargaining groups that accepted a 4 percent hike, making the overall cost unclear.

The contract the Modesto Teachers Association shared with members Wednesday includes higher daily pay for substitute teachers and higher stipends for extra work like leading student extracurricular activities or teacher collaborations.

It also sets aside 15-minute recesses at all elementary schools and extends teacher prep periods to 45 minutes in first through sixth grades. High schools will all have a college counselor plus regular counselors for every 650 students, a reduced caseload.

Negotiations had gone on for more than a year. An impasse was declared in the fall and a state mediator was appointed to try to bring the sides together. Teachers rallied by the hundreds at board meetings, calling administrators bullies and their offers disrespectful.

Friday’s session with a mediator ran from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. as teachers rallied outside.

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Modesto City Schools teachers get 6 percent deal."