Opposition signs in hand, teachers from a school in San Ysidro protested a possible 24 percent salary cut at a school board meeting Tuesday night.
With signs that read, “I don’t want to strike but I will,” teachers gathered at Sunset Elementary School to voice their frustrations on a potential pay cut of 8 percent each year over the next three years.
Teachers say the pay cuts are coming after the San Ysidro School District canceled a deal with a solar panel company. After suing the school district for breach of contract, the company won a judgement, ordering the company $12 million in damages.
As a result of the deal gone south, teachers say the school is now trying to make up those funds with a pay cut for its teachers.
Jeffrey Scarlett, a teacher at Sunset Elementary School, said the San Ysidro School District is “hiding” the truth about their financial situation and making teachers pay for the district’s mistakes.
“Our school district had grossly mismanaged money,” Scarlett told NBC 7. “They’re squirreling away millions of dollars. They have money. They’re lying about the fact that they’re broke. They’re going to rip off teachers and snake them for 24 percent of their earning over the next three years and just ignore 5,000 of the neediest students in Southern California in the process.”
