The Ceres Unified School District has reached tentative agreements with employee associations representing its certificated staff, who are primarily teachers, and classified staff, who provide a range of essential services for operating the district’s 20 schools.
Negotiating teams for the Ceres Unified Teachers Association (CUTA) and the California School Employees Association, Chapter 140 (CSEA), met with district negotiating teams beginning last fall to discuss contract language for the 2025-26 school year. Tentative agreements were signed on Jan. 8 with CUTA and Feb. 12 with CSEA.
“We’re very fortunate in Ceres Unified to have constructive relationships with our employee partners that help keep our focus on positive student outcomes,” said Dr. David Viss, Assistant Superintendent of Personnel Services. “That’s something we’ve worked hard to build through trust and mutual respect, which benefits our entire educational community.”
In California, the negotiating process between school districts and employee associations is governed by the Education Employment Relations Act (EERA). Tentative agreements are proposed contracts that outline the employment terms the district and its employee associations agree upon. Before taking effect, these agreements must be voted upon by association members, the terms of the agreement must be disclosed at a public school board meeting, and the board must approve the agreement.
The agreement with CUTA was approved at the Feb. 6 board meeting and includes an update to Grievance Procedures [Article XV] to provide CUTA with the discretion to proceed to arbitration rather than the grievant (individual employee); an increase to the District’s contribution to vested CUTA retirees’ medical, dental, and life insurance [Article XXII - Benefits]; the addition of assistant volleyball coach and head sophomore wrestling coach stipends to the Salary Schedule Provisions and Transferred Experience [Article XXIV]; an update to the current certificated salary schedule to include Career Technical Education (CTE) and an increase in the number of mandated trainings for certificated staff to complete on their own time in order to receive compensation [Article XXIV].
The agreement with CSEA was approved at the March 6 Board meeting and includes an increase of 4 hours in monthly release time for CSEA representatives supporting member needs [Article IV - H]; an update to health and welfare benefits identifying retirees with 15 years of uninterrupted, paid service and a retirement date of Dec. 1, 2024 or later as vested and eligible to continue medical and dental benefits to age 65 [Article VII - D(2)]; an update to the schedule by which school-term employees are to be paid, in equally distributed payments over the course of the employee’s work year calendar [Article IX - A(2)].
Given the impact of declining enrollment statewide on enrollment-related funding, the district and both associations agreed that employees will receive a one-time payment of 3.6 percent of their annual salary, without any ongoing increase.
