Quick Take
Contract negotiations in Pajaro Valley Unified School District have intensified as teachers push back against a district proposal to cap health insurance contributions. The district says the cap is needed to address rising health care costs, while teachers argue it could drive staff out of the district.
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District teachers union says negotiations are stalling with district leaders, particularly over a district proposal to cap how much it covers health care costs – launching the union into early explorations of a strike.
The district — which currently doesn’t limit how much it contributes to health insurance — is proposing a $36,000 yearly cap, which would affect two PPO (preferred provider organization) plans of the six plans it offers. Four of the plans will continue to have all costs covered.
MacQuiddy Elementary School teacher Alejandra Rodriguez, who has her family on a PPO plan, said she was distraught when she learned her monthly payment could increase from $140 to $1,082 in the first year, and increase each subsequent year. She said she relies on the plan and the district’s health benefits package to provide care for her daughter, her husband, who builds fences in the region’s agricultural fields, herself and her 4-year-old son, who was diagnosed with a developmental syndrome. She’s worked at the district for almost two decades.
Rodriguez can’t get a second job to pay the extra costs, she said, because she often drives her son to appointments with one of his seven specialists at Stanford University.
“I just went home and cried,” she said. “Like, what am I gonna do?”
Nearly seven months into negotiations with the school district and following approval of the layoffs of 160 staff in December due to budget shortfalls, union leaders say they’ve reached a breaking point with the district’s proposal for the cap.
Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers president Brandon Diniz says the union began a two-week strike-preparedness vote on Friday to ask if workers are ready to strike.
PVUSD spokesperson Alejandro Chavez didn’t provide Lookout with anyone to interview for this story and didn’t respond to questions.
“We cannot comment on current negotiations, as doing so could create issues that may lead to a violation,” Chavez said via email.
In Facebook posts, PVUSD officials say they’re proposing the benefits cap to improve the financial stability of the district. The costs for the top-tier health care plans are projected to increase 10% annually in the coming years, starting with $43,476 this year, $47,900 next year and $52,700 in 2027-28.
“At this rate of growth, these most commonly chosen plans are not financially sustainable for the district to maintain over time,” they wrote.
The district is also proposing a 7% salary increase spread out over three years.
The teachers union argues that the health benefits cap mixed with the salary increase amounts to a pay cut. For example, an employee on the PPO family plan will pay $1,082 in monthly benefit costs and on average will receive a monthly pay increase of just $174 for the 2026-27 year.
Diniz said nearly 80% of the teachers union, and of the district’s entire staff, are on one of the affected PPO plans and thus are “facing a pay cut through this benefits cap.”
“Everybody feels extremely disrespected by our district, very frustrated and is gearing up to take larger and larger actions to support us at the bargaining table,” he said.
Diniz said many workers are telling him they’re ready to strike, and some are asking more about the process. He said the strike preparedness vote will help the union understand what people are thinking. But before they reach the strike stage, the district and the union both have to say they’ve reached their best and final offers on their proposals. At that point, they declare an impasse and go through mediation to try to come to an agreement. If unsuccessful, the union could then hold a strike authorization vote.
He said the union has “no middle ground” when it comes to the health insurance cap – it won’t accept one. Diniz points out that the union is not willing to give up, especially at a time when other districts’ teachers have recently struck to win the same benefit – such as United Educators of San Francisco.
“If this cap were implemented, we will leave. We cannot afford to live here,” he said. “These benefits have been life-saving – and they’re the reason people have stayed in this district.”
Rodriguez said the health insurance plan has been essential to being able to support her family, especially with the care she’s providing her son, Brandon. The genetic test that diagnosed him with cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome last year cost $90,000 alone. With her insurance, she paid just $100.
Without that test, Rodriguez doesn’t know if her son would have received the proper diagnosis and therefore the proper care. She says she won’t be able to afford the extra costs if the cap is implemented. Rodriguez thinks she would have to leave the district for a higher-paying job and a better health insurance plan, maybe in two years after her daughter graduates from high school.
“I’ll probably be crying if I have to make that choice,” she said. “But I’m hoping that it doesn’t have to happen. [PVUSD] is literally like my whole life, and most of my coworkers are the same coworkers that started teaching with me.”
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