After a 36-year teaching career, I’ve chosen to retire in advance of what should be a sizable salary increase from the Santa Barbara Unified School District. While the current impasse between certificated faculty and the district will not affect me materially, I have an abiding interest in our schools. When I moved to Santa Barbara, I felt lucky to teach history at San Marcos High School, where the innovative spirit inspired me to stay put for 31 years.
I stand with my former colleagues — proudly and with great sympathy. Through the “Parent-Square” messaging platform, SBUSD has the benefit of regularly amplifying and shaping the narrative to the community in ways unavailable to SBTA, the teacher’s union. The district’s rosy picture of their generosity in a time of budget constraints leaves out important information. It reflects a narrow, protectionist modus operandi that is increasingly under-serving classroom teachers and by extension, the students and their families. Don’t be fooled.
Across three decades in the profession, I have learned to expect that there will always be claims of funding shortfalls. The information provided by SBTA indicates that, irrespective of Covid monies, the district revenues have increased by an average of 7.2% over 10 years, but that teacher salaries have grown only 3.2% in that time. SBTA illustrates this trend in two charts: “ Salaries vs. Revenues ,” and “ Salaries to Expenditures .”