CUSD Looking to Sign New Teachers Contract to Restore Days, Class Sizes

The teachers’ contract is on the agenda tonight at the Capistrano Unified school board meeting, and unlike recent years, the district is seeking to pen a multiyear agreement.

Also unlike recent years, district officials say they want to restore the school year to a full 180 days of instruction and reduce class sizes to at or under state maximums.

The district dipped below the standard 180 days in 2012-13, to 175 days, as officials struggled with an incredibly tight budget. In fact, had Prop. 30 not passed that year, the district was prepared to shorten the school year by an additional two weeks.

Then for this year, the school board restored two days in June, but left three furlough days on the calendar.

In addition, class sizes – which grew beyond state allowable limits in 2012-13 – only nominally shrank this year.

All that could be reversed after contract negotiations, according to a staff report the trustees will hear tonight.

“As we enter into a recovery phase, the district does not anticipate the need for economic concessions or furlough days from employee groups for the 2014-15 school year but cautious optimism for the future must be coupled with equally cautious fiscal management to address the serious and delicate challenges ahead,” states the report.

The district would like to discuss in upcoming negotiations a three-year contract which would have limited “openers” to refine it along the way.

The number of hours teachers work and the class sizes are the main two topics the district would like to put on the table, according to the staff report.

The board meets at 7 p.m. at CUSD headquarters 33122 Valle Road in San Juan Capistrano.