OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Oakland teachers will finally vote on a contract with the school district on Wednesday, but there is a group of teachers not willing to ratify the agreement and are calling on others to reject the deal.
Students of Coliseum College Prep Academy in Oakland went on their last field trip. As the school year ends, so do the negotiations between the teachers union and the school district.
Teachers are being offered an 8 percent raise through January 1 2016 as well as a portion of all new monies the district gets from the state. "Based on the governor's revise, if that is passed as expected, as proposed, it's an additional 3 percent," Education Association President Trish Gorham said.
Yet not all Oakland teachers are happy with that offer. "I can't support a tentative agreement that does not support our community and our students," Edgar Sanchez said.
The union was not successful at getting a hard cap on the number of special education students assigned to a teacher. The district argued it would have cost too much money. "So we have special education students really over flowing in the classrooms not getting the services they need," Perry Bellow-Handelman said.
The union leadership promises it will push for those hard caps in the next contract.
The union president believes she has enough votes for the contract to be ratified.
If that's the case, teachers will no longer work-to-rule. Many of them were only teaching the required number of hours bringing attention to all the extra work they put in.
As a result, some students had less homework. "Yes, at times. Phyllis Jackson said. So she decided to ask teachers to give her daughter more homework.
"It's probably not that great that there was fewer homework because every day counts towards toward a rigorous training to be prepared for life," Millicent Chaney said.
Most parents are satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations.