MUHSD teachers, employees to receive raises

Merced Union High School District’s teachers and classified employees are getting raises.

The district’s board of trustees at a Dec. 10 meeting unanimously gave 491 teachers a 4.5 percent raise retroactive to July and increased contributions to their health insurance coverage for the 2014-2015 school year.

The 425 classified or non-teaching support employees represented by the California State Employees Association, Chapter 252, got 4 percent raises and increased contributions to their health insurance.

Stacy McAfee, the district’s assistant superintendent for human resources, said the raises will cost the district an additional $2.9 million. That covers about $2.2 million for teachers and nearly $700,000 for the classified staff.

Employees also received 2 percent raises last February that went into effect in July. McAfee said the negotiations process that began in May was successful, and she lauded the collaborative effort of the employee unions.

Blaine Barrick, president of the District Teachers Association, said 95 percent of the teachers voted to accept the district’s offer and told him they were happy with the result.

Barrick thanked members of the association’s negotiations team for their efforts to make sure the voices of teachers were heard.

Willie Wohltman, CSEA president, said the district “did well with us” and the settlement was the best they could achieve.

The district has about 10,000 students, with campuses in Merced, Atwater and Livingston.

This story was originally published December 16, 2014 at 4:42 PM with the headline "MUHSD teachers, employees to receive raises."