Fresno Teachers Association and Fresno Unified reach tentative agreement

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A tentative agreement has been reached between the Fresno Unified School District and the Fresno Teachers Association. Teachers and their union have spent months bargaining with Fresno Unified for smaller class sizes, better salaries, increased benefits and improved classroom safety.

Some of the things included in the agreement were:

- A 3.5-percent pay increase retroactive back to July 1st, 2016

- A 2-percent pay increase effective July 1st, 2017

- A minimum 1-percent pay increase with a maximum of a 3-percent increase based on a contingency formula for the 18/19 school year.

Tentative Agreement Details (PDF).

- The district has agreed to pay $18,000 per-employee per-year for health care with a 90/10 co-insurance benefit with a maximum out of pocket for a single payer of $2,500 and a maximum out of pocket for a family of $5,000.

-Class size reduction for all grades TK through 12th

- Elimination of all TK through 6th-grade combination classes through a phased process.

- Professional Learning and Accountable Communities reduced by 9 hours per year freeing up time for teachers.

- Increased registered nursing staff to 63 full-time nurses - three more than originally planned.

- Reduce duty day for adult education by 5 days in the 2018 school year and then reducing it by an edition 5 days in 2019 with no change in salary.

- The district and FTA have agreed to create a School climate and Safety Committee to address safety concerns.

- In February 2018 FTA and the District will create a collaborative committee to address shared goals for special education. The district has committed $2-million to help with the creation of this committee.

Now that a tentative agreement is signed, the next step is for each of the parties to ratify the agreement. The Fresno Teachers Association is tentatively scheduled to vote on ratifying the successor contract as soon as possible.

Once FTA has approved the successor contract, the District Board of Education will have an opportunity to ratify it.