Contract Negotiations
Negotiations Updates
Our bargaining team met on September 1, and we are still negotiating salary and class size.
Negotiations Website
RCOTA/RCSS Contract Ratified 10/08/2021
COLA Explanation
Explanation of our County’s COLA
As we go through contract negotiations, it is important for our members to understand our
COLA as compared to other districts. In hearing of how other districts are receiving a higher COLA and
settling on a higher salary percentage agreement, it is important to understand we, as a county is a
different entity. In a conversation with our fiscal services, I requested an explanation of how our COLA
works as compared with other school districts.
This is the explanation I received:
“Local educational agencies (LEA) received substantial increases in funding for the 2022-23 school year.
In particular, school districts and charter schools received increases to their Local Control Funding
Formula (LCFF) (the main source of revenues) in excess of 12% - including a 6.56% cost of living
adjustment (COLA) and augmentations on the base funding students in all grade levels. County offices, including RCOE, are funded very differently than school districts and charter schools. For
example, from 2017-18 through the 2021-22 school year, RCOE received no increase in LCFF revenues
while districts received COLAs during most of those years. For the 2022-23 school year, after
considerable advocacy from RCOE and other county offices, RCOE received the 6.56% on only a
portion of its LCFF funding – the target level of funding. Therefore, RCOE’s effective revenue COLA for
LCFF was approximately 3.02% for the 2022-23 school year.
While considerably less than what districts
received, without the advocacy and changes in the law for 2022-23, RCOE would have received an
effective 0% COLA.”