Teachers and Parents to protest San Lorenzo School Board meeting

SAN LORENZO (KGO) -- Teachers and parents in the San Lorenzo Unified School District are planning a protest at the school board meeting tonight to call for more funding for educators.

Scores of San Lorenzo Unified School District educators and parents will pack the school board meeting tonight to demand that the district use more of its state revenue windfall to invest in educators and the future of the community. Educators here are the fourth lowest paid among Alameda County districts.

With a $22 million windfall from the state's new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), plus existing district reserves, San Lorenzo Unified now has about $37 million to fairly compensate educators for the next school year. Instead, the district is only offering the teachers a 1.7 percent raise, and inadequate contributions to what it pays for health benefits, said Donna Pinkney, president of the San Lorenzo Education Association. Educators are seeking a raise of 7.5 percent.

"The district is trying to deny its hard-working teachers the modest salary increase they deserve and the district can clearly afford to provide," Pinkney said. "The LCFF money is to help at-risk students. But there is nothing more important, more essential, and more critical to improving services to our hardest to reach students than attracting and retaining the most highly qualified teachers. Competitive salaries are needed to accomplish this. The district's refusal to invest more in educators is sending a clear message - teachers don't matter."

The protest is planned for 7:30 p.m. outside the school district offices at 15510 Usher St., San Lorenzo.

Bay City News has contributed to this story.