The San Diego Unified school board just unanimously approved a golden handshake for two more groups of employees: teachers and the union that represents electricians, food service workers, custodians and other support services.
Teachers are considered key to garnering savings from the plan, which gives employees a bonus to leave the school district, because newer teachers earn far less than veterans they would replace. Their union had held off on signing up for the bonus because it wanted at least some of the savings from the golden handshake to help bring teacher salaries closer to the county median, as originally proposed by a task force years ago. The school district wanted those funds to help plug the budget crisis.
How was that disagreement resolved? I’m not sure yet and the school board has moved on to other subjects. Check back later for an update.