By LESTER CHANG
Citing a reserve of $8 million and more in school funds, the Fremont Education Association has asked the Fremont Union High School District Board of Trustees to increase salaries from 14 percent to 20 percent for the district's nearly 400 teachers and school psychologists.
The association asked for a 20 percent increase for incoming teachers and up to a 14 or 15 percent increase for veteran teachers under a one-year contract.
In support of the proposal, at least 125 union members, mostly teachers, gathered in front of the FUHSD's administrative office in Sunnyvale just before the start of a Jan. 9 board meeting.
If the board approves the proposal, yearly salaries would jump from $28,000 to $35,000 for incoming teachers and $48,000 to $59,000 for veteran teachers, association officials said.
The association also asked for better retirement and health benefits.
The board accepted the proposal and is expected to submit its own proposal Jan. 16.
Negotiations could start in February or March, said Jim Dawes, chairman of a six-member negotiation team from the association. The union wants to have the process concluded by summer. The current three-year contract expires in August this year.
Some teachers, like Molino Torres, who teaches Spanish at Lynbrook High School, said the salaries for Fremont School District teachers once were among the highest in the state and are now "almost at the bottom."
By comparison, incoming teachers with the Santa Clara Unified School make $28,638 a year, while teachers with 25 to 30 years of experience and a master's degree make about $55,000 a year, according to officials from that school district.
District records show teachers received raises totaling 11 percent between the 1990-1995 school years. No raises were given in the 1994-95 school year, but raises totaling nearly 4 percent were given in the 1993-94 school year.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 17, 1996
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