Exploring the opposing sides’ perspectives and current state of the process
Staff Writer
Since the previous labor contract for FUSD employees expired on June 30th, 2024, negotiations have been going on between the district and the Fremont Unified District Teachers’ Union (FUDTA) to secure a new contract. The two parties remain at an impasse, causing the possibility for a teachers’ strike to move closer.
Mr. Howard, an English 9 and 10 Honors teacher who is active in FUDTA as a member of the union’s Outreach Committee explained the main issues of dispute from the union’s perspective. One major concern teachers are holding is the prevalence of larger class sizes. Mr. Howard said, “The more students I have, the more essays I have to grade, the less time with each individual student I have, and you’re essentially competing with all your classmates for air time.”
“Then there are issues like counselor caseloads,” he said. “Counselors see about 400 to 450 students each, which is over the recommendation from the American School Counselor Association.” The ASCA recommends a 250:1 counselor to student ratio.
Of course, issues such as salary and healthcare coverage are also union concerns and affect staff retention. Mr. Howard said, “If we don’t pay teachers well in comparison with surrounding school districts, then our teachers will leave for those school districts.”
On the district side, Superintendent Zack Larsen was recently appointed on February 26th to replace previous Superintendent Erik Burmeister who unexpectedly resigned on February 12th. Larsen outlined some of the district’s fiscal concerns, including those specific to this year’s budget. He said, “For the 26 years I’ve worked here and many, many years before that, many of the same issues have circulated every budget cycle. Some of the challenges we’re facing right now are the ending of many one-time funding sources we had coming out of the pandemic.”
Larsen expressed continuing difficulties with getting necessary funds from the state. He said, “When we get chunks of money from the state, our history has been that we pass it along to our employees, but unfortunately it is a continual challenge in the state of California.”
The union has a different perspective on the district’s finances. Per an interview with FUDTA President Victoria Chon, while the district claims that it does not have the money, the union contends that it does.
Mr. Howard described one union argument supporting this conclusion. “There’s about 75 million dollars in the budget that the district isn’t doing anything with. The district is saying, despite there being 75 million dollars in the budget, they just don’t have the money to give any of what we want.”
Larsen responded to this argument by saying that this money, known as the ending fund balance, was left over from the previous school year, and part of these funds are restricted to only some uses, which do not include teacher salaries.
The district and the union are at the stage of fact-finding, in which both sides present facts to a fact-finder appointed by the Public Employee Relations Board. After the fact-finder presents their report at a public school board meeting, the district may present its final offer, after which FUDTA will be legally permitted to go on strike.
Larsen hopes the fact-finding process will result in progress toward a deal. He said, “I’m hoping that the cases for both [sides] are persuasive and that both parties come away with a greater understanding of where each other are and why the asks or the restrictions are what they are so we can move forward.”
Special education teacher Mr. Kimo stands outside the drop-off loop in the morning holding a union sign.“I was approached by an administrator to not hold the sign, and so I worked with the administrators to allow me to be out here with this,” he said. “I’ll be holding it until we figure out what’s going on and the public has a better understanding” (Photo Credit: Aruna Harpalani (11)).
Eagle Era 
Leave a comment