Lucia Mar Unified School District and its teachers union are struggling to see eye to eye.
The union’s currently working with a contract—protecting the work time, compensation, and benefits of 530 certificated teachers, regular part-time teachers, credentialed school nurses, speech and language specialists, and credentialed librarians, among others—that expired in June 2025.
An update reflecting salary increases and augmentation, greater health and benefit contribution, and more compensated preparation time is overdue, according to union members.
“We always really link the teachers’ working conditions to our students’ learning conditions because if we don’t have resources, don’t have time, then ultimately our students are going to be the ones that suffer,” Teachers Association President Cody King said. “We always want to prevent that.”
King told New Times that the union contacted the district last April with dates of its availability to discuss a new contract. The district reportedly replied in September with its own set of dates—three months after the school board greenlit negotiations to start.
The two groups finally met in October, subsequently meeting once a month in November and December. Their most recent negotiation took place on Jan. 22.
“One reason that we’re always starting after our contract has expired, just the way school finance works, they do their budget in the summer, and they update it throughout the year,” King said. “It’s not until the following September that there’s a budget that comes in that is based in what they actually spent and based in what their actual revenue was.”
Budget debates have struck Lucia Mar before.
In 2023, despite its teachers being the highest-paid educators in the county, many community members criticized the unequitable pay raises awarded to Lucia Mar’s upper management. King previously told New Times that the school board and other superiors called themselves the “me too district” for including themselves in uniform salary hikes.
As of Jan. 22, the teachers union proposed a 6 percent salary increase retroactive to July 1, 2025; a 5 percent salary augmentation for special education teachers with an education specialist credential; upping preparation time or conference periods for elementary school teachers from 100 minutes to 150 minutes; raising self-directed planning days on late-arrival from 10 days to 15; and a total compensation raise of more than 7.5 percent along with more robust benefit contributions.
The district responded with agreements to meet the demands for special education teachers’ salary augmentation and more preparation time and planning days but wants to raise total compensation by only 2 percent.
The district also countered the salary increase with an offer to raise it by 1.4 percent retroactive to July 1, 2025. It presented a term agreement through 2027 with the opportunity for both parties to negotiate health and welfare benefits and salaries.
“In response to concerns raised by [the union] at Tuesday’s board meeting, [the district] also offered to bring in a neutral third party to thoroughly review the district’s finances, to ensure that the budget is clear to both parties,” Lucia Mar’s Jan. 22 negotiation update read. “In response to [the district’s] proposal, [the union] requested a caucus, and upon return of both parties to the room, [the union] unilaterally declared its intent to file for impasse at the close of this fourth session.”
The union, according to King, was concerned that the district was misrepresenting its financial situation. He said it claimed to have deficit spending despite averaging a $5.5 million increase to the reserve each year since 2020.
Lucia Mar spokesperson Amy Jacobs told New Times that reserve increases and deficit spending can occur in tandem.
“It’s similar to a household that received a one-time bonus and put much of it into savings, some earmarked for specific repairs, while their monthly paycheck no longer covers monthly bills,” she said. “Savings can look high, but the monthly budget can still be running a deficit.”
Lucia Mar is a Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) district, meaning it receives money from the state based on average daily student attendance and the concentration of English learners, foster youth, and low-income students.
California law requires Lucia Mar to maintain a minimum 3 percent of its budget in reserve funding. For the 2025-26 school year, the district anticipates total operating expenditures of roughly $188.7 million—around $130 million in unrestricted general fund revenue goes to employee salaries and benefits.
But declining enrollment is causing LCFF funding to take a hit.
“Our general fund contributions to restricted programs, especially special education, have risen from roughly $14 million several years ago to about $24.9 million projected for 2025-26,” Jacobs said via email. “But our per-pupil funding is among the lowest in our area, so we take steps to ensure long-term sustainability.”
Jacobs added that the San Luis Obispo County Office of Education reviewed its methodology and confirmed that the district is correctly incorporating ongoing raises. The district shared the county’s conclusion with the union during negotiations.
Implementing the union’s demands isn’t a raise that Lucia Mar can fiscally maintain, she said.
“Our concern is sustainability,” Jacobs said. “[The union’s] current proposal would add roughly 7.5 percent to ongoing costs, creating a structural deficit that would rapidly deplete reserves and jeopardize the district’s solvency, triggering county/state fiscal intervention.”
Shell Beach Elementary and Pacific View Academy special education teacher Loni Kirk said that while the district tentatively agreed to her and her peers’ demand for the 5 percent salary augmentation for special education teachers, Lucia Mar is the only district in the county that doesn’t have contract language for additional compensation for special education case managers.
“We see teachers leaving in the middle of the year or going out on mental health leave because the job is so stressful. The staff that is left behind needs to pick up the caseload and service providing,” Kirk said. “Obviously we know that it’s a national crisis, and it’s not going to be solved with just one solution. Our proposal for the responsibility factor is at least an acknowledgment or compensation for some of the additional work that has to occur outside of school hours.”
Kirk added that she’s noticed rising tensions between the district and the union over the five years she’s been a union member, specifically involving disagreements about how the budget is presented.
District spokesperson Jacobs said that Lucia Mar offered the highest compensation percentage increase in the county at almost 33 percent over a decade, as well as the top two highest salaries based on years of service despite receiving the second lowest funding per student.
“We’re surprised by the perception that there is a history of ‘contentious negotiations,’” she said. “Lucia Mar takes great pride in the strong, collaborative partnerships we share with our teachers, classified staff, and families that make educational excellence possible. Specifically, we have prioritized compensation over the last 10 years.” ∆
Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 5, 2026.