Dear Team GUSD:

In an effort to provide you with information about the status of negotiations with the Gilroy Teachers Association (GTA), the District negotiations team will share brief updates regarding specific components of the current GUSD proposal.

Sharing this information with all staff will allow you to be informed about the proposal that the District’s negotiations team has presented to GTA leadership.  

The fifth update addresses the financial impact of declining enrollment:

What is the Financial Impact of Declining Enrollment? 

GUSD’s enrollment has declined by approximately 200 students, which is equivalent to a loss of $2.6 million for just the 2023-24 school year.  GUSD’s enrollment has declined by 1,249 since the 2016-17 school year.  

Since a decline in student enrollment is spread unevenly across 14 different schools, there can never be a one-to-one ratio of reducing staffing to offset loss in revenue.  Subsequently, adjustments, or a decrease in staffing due to fewer students enrolled in our District, only accounts for approximately 25% of lost revenue.  

We welcome the opportunity to continue our conversations with GTA with the hope that we can reach an agreement that benefits our staff members and maintains the fiscal solvency of District operations.

Anisha Munshi, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Gilroy Unified School District

Dear Team GUSD:

In an effort to provide you with information about the status of negotiations with the Gilroy Teachers Association (GTA), the District negotiations team will share brief updates regarding specific components of the current GUSD proposal.

Sharing this information with all staff will allow you to be informed about the proposal that the District’s negotiations team has presented to GTA leadership.  

The fourth update addresses how declining enrollment directly impacts salary offers at the negotiations table:

Why Does Declining Enrollment Matter for Staff Salary Offers?

As the Gilroy Unified School District negotiations team analyzes salary offers for employees, it must consider declining enrollment as a significant variable.  Declining enrollment reduces new and future revenue received from the State.  

For example, the 2023-24 8.22% COLA (cost of living adjustment) yields only a 4% increase in revenue because of declining enrollment.  Fewer students in our classrooms means less revenue to the District.  

The graduating class of 2024 has 1,054 students at four high schools in GUSD.  Currently, there are only 580 kindergarten students enrolled at the District’s seven elementary schools.  This means that revenue that is tied to student enrollment will be decreased by 474 as this year’s kinders move forward in their educational journey.

According to demographer data*, the birth rates in Gilroy continue to decline, meaning fewer students will likely enter kindergarten in GUSD in the coming years.

*GUSD Enrollment Report by PowerSchool (formerly DecisionInsite) presented to the GUSD Board of Education, 12/15/2022

Ongoing salary proposals do not only impact existing monies.  The District must always calculate how ongoing salary increases impact the long-term financial stability of the District in an environment where future revenue streams are decreasing.

We welcome the opportunity to continue our conversations with GTA with the hope that we can reach an agreement that benefits our staff members and maintains the fiscal solvency of District operations.

Anisha Munshi, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Gilroy Unified School District

Dear Team GUSD:

In an effort to provide you with information about the status of negotiations with the Gilroy Teachers Association (GTA), the District negotiations team will share brief updates regarding specific components of the current GUSD proposal.

Sharing this information with all staff will allow you to be informed about the proposal that the District’s negotiations team has presented to GTA leadership.  

The third update addresses how the current offer benefits student access to academic counseling in the Gilroy Unified School District:

Student Access to Academic Counseling

GUSD has made significant improvements in student wellness and access to academic counseling at the high school level, and GUSD’s current proposal to GTA continues that commitment.  Below is a chart that provides an idea of the impact of the current GUSD proposal to GTA.  This proposal brings GUSD Student-to-School-Counselor ratios significantly below the state average of 509:1** and national average of 408:1**.

Enrollment Projections* and High School Academic Coordinator / Student Ratios

	2022-2023	Current School Year 2023-2024	2024-2025	2025-2026
GHS	1748	1657	1583	1554
CHS + VLA	1675	1611	1527	1501
Total Academic Coordinators	7.8	10	10	10
AC/Student Ratio	439:1	327:1	311:1	305:1

*GUSD Enrollment Report by PowerSchool (formerly DecisionInsite) presented to the GUSD Board of Education, 12/15/2022
**American School Counselor Association 2021-2022 Report
(https://www.schoolcounselor.org/About-School-Counseling/School-Counselor-Roles-Ratios)

We welcome the opportunity to continue our conversations with GTA with the hope that we can reach an agreement that benefits our staff members and maintains the fiscal solvency of District operations.

Anisha Munshi, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Gilroy Unified School District

Dear Team GUSD:

In an effort to provide you with information about the status of negotiations with the Gilroy Teachers Association (GTA), the District negotiations team will share brief updates regarding specific components of the current GUSD proposal.

Sharing this information with all staff will allow you to be informed about the proposal that the District’s negotiations team has presented to GTA leadership.  

The second update addresses how the current offer benefits new teachers in the Gilroy Unified School District:

Portrait of a New Teacher
GUSD has worked hard to retain and recruit high-quality teachers.  Teachers with families who are new to the profession can find competitive total compensation packages in our District.  GUSD’s current proposal to GTA makes a significant impact on new teachers’ real earning potential to support their families while providing high quality instruction to their students. 

Below is a chart that provides an idea of the impact of the current GUSD proposal to GTA which demonstrates the District’s commitment to retain and recruit high-quality educators.

New Credentialed Teacher with Family (Step 1, Column 2)

	January 2024 (without GUSD Proposal)	January 2024 (with GUSD Proposal)
Salary	$60,208	$67,861
(Out-of-Pocket Medical Costs)	($9,005)	($3,877)
Real Earnings	$51,203	$63,984
One-Time Bonus (2%) for all GTA	N/A	$1,357
Real Earnings Increase		$14,138
% Increase in Real Earnings		27.6%

We welcome the opportunity to continue our conversations with GTA with the hope that we can reach an agreement that benefits our staff members and maintains the fiscal solvency of District operations.

Anisha Munshi, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Gilroy Unified School District

Dear Team GUSD:

In an effort to provide you with information about the status of negotiations with the Gilroy Teachers Association (GTA), the District negotiations team will share brief updates regarding specific components of the current GUSD proposal.

Sharing this information with all staff will allow you to be informed about the proposal that the District’s negotiations team has presented to GTA leadership.  

The first update addresses health and welfare compensation, as part of the current offer to GTA:

Health and Welfare Compensation

For the past several years, despite yearly increases in Kaiser Permanente medical plan premiums that are not controlled by GUSD, the District has made a financial commitment to improve health and welfare compensation for the Gilroy Teachers Association. Access to high-quality health care at a reasonable cost improves retention and recruitment of excellent educators.

The District's most recent proposal provides nearly $28,000 in financial support to GTA members and their families for medical care, not including vision or dental,  in addition to their salary. This financial commitment provides additional discretionary money for families in lieu of those funds going to pay for medical plan premiums.

Below is a chart that provides a sample of the impact of the current GUSD proposal.

Monthly Out-of-Pocket (Tenthly) (Family Plan)

	January 2022	January 2023	January 2024
Out-of-Pocket Cost (current)	$387.73	$564.56	$900.50
Out-of Pocket Cost (proposed)	$387.73	$387.73	$387.73
Monthly Savings (tenthly)		$176.83	$512.77
Yearly Savings		$1,768.30	$5,127.70

We welcome the opportunity to continue our conversations with GTA with the hope that we can reach an agreement that benefits our staff members and maintains the fiscal solvency of District operations.

Anisha Munshi, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Gilroy Unified School District

Dear GUSD families:

I’m writing to provide you with some important updates about the current status of negotiations between the Gilroy Unified School District and Gilroy Teachers Association (GTA).  The negotiations teams for both sides have been working to reach an agreement on salary and benefit increases that is retroactive to the beginning of the 2022-23 school year.  Meetings between the groups began on December 8,  2022, and are continuing.  The District wishes to focus our financial resources on salary and health/welfare increases in the interest of recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers and other certificated staff members to educate your children.

The Gilroy Teachers Association represents the District’s certificated staff members, including: teachers, school counselors, academic coordinators, literacy facilitators, and other staff members who are responsible for educating students.  The District’s negotiations team has already reached agreements with the District’s two other bargaining units: CSEA (California School Employees Association) and GFP (Gilroy Federation of Paraeducators).

During the negotiations process, the District team has remained committed to reaching a mutually beneficial contract with GTA that benefits our certificated staff members, while maintaining the financial solvency of the District.

The current proposal that the District has presented GTA includes a two-year overall compensation package increase of 16.25%, which includes salary increases retroactive to July 1, 2022 and benefit increases to reduce out-of-pocket costs to employees in both 2023 and 2024 calendar years.  The proposal also includes an offer of one-time stipends for members.  GTA members will be eligible for up to approximately $28,000 in contributions toward health care expenses in addition to salary.  All of this represents a total offer of over $14.4 million from the District.

The District’s negotiations team requested a meeting with the GTA team yesterday to present this offer.  The GTA team declined an opportunity to provide a counter proposal to the District, and informed the District that they will file for fact-finding, the next step in the negotiations process. 

Attached to this message is the negotiations update that was sent to staff today which provides detailed information about the District’s proposal to the Gilroy Teachers Association negotiations team.  We believe that this offer is fair and reasonable. The District has the responsibility of maintaining fiscal stability at a time when we are experiencing a steady decline in student enrollment, which directly impacts the District’s revenue.  This offer demonstrates our commitment to continue providing high quality educational experiences for our students.

We remain hopeful that the District and GTA will reach an agreement that is mutually beneficial for both parties, while maintaining our shared commitment to our students and families.

Best regards,
Anisha Munshi, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Gilroy Unified School District