By Theresa-Marie Wilson

The dispute between the district and teachers in the Lucia Mar Unified School District remains in a wait and see holding pattern.
Educators in the Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association voted overwhelmingly to call a strike if the district didn’t budge on its pay raise offer of 2 percent.
The vote came the day after the union and district failed to reach an agreement following a second mediation meeting.
Lucia Mar teachers have been without a contract since June 2014. Through the state’s Local Control Funding formula, the district received about 10 percent more funding than it did last school year.
The union wants to see a similar increase for teachers and asked for a 10 percent pay increase.
A statement issued by Chuck Fiorentino, LMUSD Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, stated, “We have provided the largest salary increases in our county over the past three years. The district’s salaries exceed those of similarly funded districts in our county. Our commitment to employee compensation has brought us closer to the few neighboring districts that receive much more funding than we do. Despite these facts, the union negotiating team has remained firm in its unreasonable demands. We simply cannot afford a 10 percent increase.”
Following the second mediation meeting, the district offered a 6 percent increase over three years: 2 percent retroactive to July 1, 2014; 1 percent on July 1, 2015; 2 percent on March 1, 2016; and 1 percent effective January 1, 2017.
The union declined the offer.
“This vote shows our members are committed to achieving a fair settlement and are ready to stand up for what’s right,” said LMUTA president Donna Kandel in a statement. “We all remain hopeful that we can avoid a strike, and while our team remains ready and eager to negotiate, it’s going to take a real change in direction by the school district to help make an agreement happen.”
The same day the strike vote was approved, the union and the California Teachers Association filed Unfair Labor Practice Charges with the Public Employment Relations Board against the school district over numerous items, including threats to illegally stop payment for health benefits, refusal to bargain changes to terms of employment, unilaterally changing leave authorization policies, interfering in protected activities (legal union actions), attempting to undermine union leadership through inflammatory and false statements, threatening and coercing members in attempts to stop them from participating in protected activities, and violating mediation confidentiality by publicly disclosing proposals discussed during mediation.
A non-binding fact-finding report by a neutral party detailing how much the district could afford to pay is expected to be released by mid-week. The report will be made public 10 days after it is sent to teachers.
The union and the district will meet at the negotiating table one more time after the report is released. Should they remain at an impasse, a strike would likely begin in mid April following spring break.