Bargaining Updates - River Charter Schools

On this page, you will find updates on the bargaining between River Charter Schools (RCS) and the River Charter Schools Teachers Association (RCSTA).

Bargaining Update from May 10, 2023

The RCS and RCSTA met on May 10, 2023 for the 22nd bargaining session.

RCS shared a package proposal that included substantive responses to the RCSTA package proposal that was shared on April 26, 2023.

The full text of the RCSTA and RCS package proposals can be found in the list of proposals below.

Further bargaining sessions are scheduled for May 17 and May 24.

Bargaining Update from April 26, 2023

The RCS and the RCSTA teams have continued to meet. The teams met on April 26, 2023. The teams have met for a total of 21 bargaining sessions.

RCS shared a response to complaints and a package proposal was shared by RCSTA.

Further bargaining sessions are scheduled for May 10, May 17 and May 24.

Bargaining Update March 23, 2023

The RCS and RCSTA teams continued to meet for multiple bargaining sessions in March, including 3/7, 3/20 and 3/22. The teams have met for a total of 20 bargaining sessions so far.

A listing of the 8 tentative agreements that have been agreed upon can be found below. There are 11 proposals that are still being negotiated.

On 3/20, RCSTA shared a counter proposal on Layoffs, Evalutions, and Employment Status. RCS shared counter proposals on Evaluations and Layoffs. Copies of these proposals can be found below.

On 3/22, the RCSTA shared a counter proposal on Layoffs and Evaluations, while RCS shared counter proposals on Compensation and Employment Status. Copies of all of these proposals can be found below.

The RCS counter proposal on Compensation includes offering a $2,565 one-time payment to all employees for 2022-23. This is in addition to the 5% raise that was already provided for the 2022-23 school year as well as the $1,050 one time payment already distributed. This would bring the total of one time payments for staff in the 22-23 school year to $3,615. For a teacher making $60,000 per year, this would result in a 5% on schedule raise and 6.05% off schedule raise.

After the last time proposals were exchanged, the RCS financial team reflected on the interests shared by the RCSTA and proposed a new salary schedule on 3/22 for RCSTA to consider. The new RCS proposed salary schedule for 2023-24 can be found in the list of proposals below.

The RCS and RCSTA teams continue to meet regularly in an attempt to reach agreement on all outstanding articles.

Bargaining Update March 3, 2023

The RCS and RCSTA teams continued to meet during the winter of 2023, including meetings on 1/30/23, 2/22/23, 2/27/23, and an upcoming meeting on 3/7/23.

A listing of all tentative agreements that have already been agreed upon can be found below.

On January 30, 2023 proposals were shared around assignments and transfers, evaluations, compensation and health benefits.

On February 22, 2023 proposals were shared around the 2023-24 RCS calendar and RCSTA presented a proposal on Layoffs.

On February 27, 2023, RCS and RCSTA were able to agree on a proposal related to assignments and transfers and the proposed calendar for 2023-24. Proposals were also exchanged regarding compensation, layoffs, evaluations, and class size.

The summary of the most recent RCS Compensation proposal includes offering a $1,565 one-time payment to all employees for 2022-23. This is in addition to the 5% raise that was already provided for the 2022-23 school year as well as the $1,050 one time payment already distributed. For a teacher making $60,000 per year, this would result in a 5% on schedule raise and 4.25% off schedule raise. RCS proposed a new salary schedule for 2023-24 that can be found in the list of proposals below.

The calendar agreement that was reached also ensures that teachers at RCS have 175 instructional days with students and 10 paid professional development days.

Bargaining Update - December 16, 2022

By way of background on the Compensation proposal RCS made to RCSTA on December 5, each December, RCS presents a first quarter budget revision to the RCS Board of Directors with an update on the revenue and expenses for the 2022-23 school year, as well as forecasts for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years. The California Legislative Analyst’s Office has indicated that, “the Legislature would face a budget problem of $24 billion in 2023‑24. (A budget problem—also called a deficit—occurs when resources for the upcoming fiscal year are insufficient to cover the costs of currently authorized services.) The budget problem is mainly attributable to lower revenue estimates, which are lower than budget act projections from 2021‑22 through 2023‑24 by $41 billion.”

Despite these forecasts, the RCS Compensation proposal includes a $1,025 off-schedule payment to all employees for the 2022-23 school year (this is in addition to the 5% increase and $1,050 payment already agreed upon and distributed for this school year), as well as a revised salary schedule with increases in salary current employees for the 2023-24 school year. This new salary schedule will place unit members’ average salaries above Davis Joint Unified, River Delta Unified, Woodland Joint Unified, Elk Grove Unified, and on par with Sacramento City Unified.

RCS will continue to meet with the RCSTA negotiations team in good faith. We look forward to reaching tentative agreement on the remaining items so that the parties’ first collective bargaining agreement can soon take effect!

We are happy to report that the parties have reached tentative agreement on 8 topics so far: