Santa Barbara Unified and School Employee Association tentatively agree to health and dental coverage changes
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – The Santa Barbara Unified School District and the California School Employee Association announced Monday the groups have approved a tentative agreement over health and dental benefits as they negotiate a new labor contract.
This tentative agreement comes after the second bargaining session between the organizations and is effective Jul. 1 of 2024 detail a press release from the Santa Barbara Unified School District.
Currently, the school district covers 40% to 60% of medical benefits premium costs depending on the employee-selected plan and between 24% to 74% of dental benefits premium costs state Santa Barbara Unified School District.
According to Santa Barbara Unified School District, the tentative agreement announced Monday increases the district's contribution to 75% of medical and dental benefit premium costs regardless of the plan selected and number of dependents enrolled.
The district estimates the cost of the above tentative agreement is $1,288,108.
Notably, this estimate only applies to the tentative health and dental agreement covering members of the California School Employee Association which does not include teachers.
Contract negotiations between Santa Barbara Unified School District and the California Teacher's Association, the labor organization that represents teachers, entered into the impasse process managed by the California Public Employee Relations Board in January of this year.
During the second bargaining session, the California School Employee Association submitted a clause on Article 9 (Wages) which would require the district to match any potential wage increases made with other bargaining units and that proposal has been continued to the next bargaining session.
Other proposals pushed to the next bargaining session include changes to the involuntary transfer notification process, adding overtime pay options, and increasing salaries for certain job classifications.
The next bargaining sessions are scheduled for Mar. 7, Mar. 18, and Apr. 3 of this year.
