The Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District has finalized new agreements with its teacher and employee unions, securing a 5% salary increase for all staff members and enhanced protections for various types of leave. The contracts were approved during the spring season and are set to take effect on July 1.
District spokeswoman Tanya De La Cruz confirmed that a tentative agreement was reached in May with Chapter No. 875 of the California School Employees Association. This union represents more than 250,000 classified public school employees across the state, including bus drivers, custodians, food service workers, para-educators, clerical staff, and campus security guards. The new contract will remain in force through June 30, 2028.
Under the terms of the agreement, school employees will receive a 5% raise across the board. An additional 0.8% of funds has been allocated for non-uniform enhancements, which may be used to create new salary ranges or reclassify jobs to higher pay grades during the school year.
The district also agreed to establish a clear process for assigning overtime to classified staff, requiring the creation of physical or digital overtime rotation lists based on seniority.
The contract shifts the overtime threshold to a weekly basis. Full-time employees will receive time-and-a-half pay for their sixth consecutive workday and double time for their seventh day. Part-time employees will receive overtime rates on their seventh day for up to eight hours, with double time applying thereafter.
The agreement also caps part-time employees' lunch breaks at 30 minutes and allows them to use rest periods to make up for lost time with supervisory approval.
Regarding health and family leave, the new contract provides employees who exhaust their regular sick leave with up to 100 workdays of extended sick leave paid at half their regular salary. Previously, such employees received differential pay at the rate of a substitute for a five-month period.