Duarte teachers reach tentative agreement after months of negotiations

After months of negotiations, the Duarte Unified School District (DUSD) and the Duarte Unified Educators Association (DUEA) have reached a tentative two-year agreement for the 2024–2025 and 2025–2026 school years.

As CALÓ News previously reported, hundreds of teachers had been working under expired contracts and, since last fall, had been calling for a renewed contract that prioritized resources for students, competitive wages and health benefits to recruit and retain educators for a district that serves approximately 3,000 K-12 students in Duarte, California. 

“After tough but respectful negotiations, we were able to reach a tentative agreement thanks to our members’ unwavering support. This agreement represents real progress and a positive outcome for our educators, students and community,” said Heather Messner, DUEA president.

The DUSD, located about an hour away from downtown L.A., has a student-teacher ratio of around 20 to, with the majority of its students being Latino.

Negotiations for a new contract agreement began in November 2024 when the association and district met various times to deliberate. After ongoing demonstrations and mediations, no real agreement was reached until last week. 

In a joint statement, both organizations said the meeting and negotiations were all “in good faith” and with a shared goal of supporting students, staff and the Duarte community. 

Under the new DUSD and DUEA agreement, teachers will receive an ongoing salary schedule increase. 

Last fall, DUSD teachers told CALÓ News the district had a history of neglect when it came to its employed educators, which affected the district's inability to retain educators for long periods of time. 

According to DUSD records, before the new contract, teachers in the district had an estimated average base salary of $85,000 per year, with a total estimated pay range of $70,000 to $106,000, depending on factors like experience and position. 

Educators in the district had expressed the need for an increase in wages, arguing that they had not seen an increase in pay bump in years. 

During the negotiation period, teachers cited some of the lowest health benefits in California. Sheri Johnson and Andrew Thill, both DUSD teachers, said they had been forced to look for a second job to supplement their income. 

Messner had also publicly talked about having to take on pet sitting or bartending on weekends to be able to pay her bills.

For years, DUSD teachers’ pay had been notably lower compared to other districts, such as the Palo Alto Unified School District, where teacher salaries for the 2024-2025 school year start around $91,546 and can exceed $160,000 for experienced educators. 

The approximately 150 teachers in the district will also see a class size reduction, and elementary teachers will also be granted expanded preparation time, which will support collaborative planning, lesson refinement and the implementation of new curriculum, if necessary. This is important because preparation time is often overlooked, leading to teacher burnout and low educational outcomes. 

In addition, the district has also agreed to increase health and welfare contributions and raise the benefits cap to cover rising insurance premiums, eliminating increasing out-of-pocket expenses. 

“This tentative agreement reflects the strength of our partnership with DUEA and our shared commitment to investing in our educators while ensuring long-term stability for the district,” said Jessica Medrano, DUSD superintendent. 

The new agreement comes at a time when the relatively small district, comprised of one elementary (K-6) school, three middle schools, one comprehensive high school and one continuation high school, has almost a $4 million deficit.  

Despite this, Medrano said she was proud of the collaborative negotiations and said she believes the new agreements under the contract will have a positive impact across all of the district's schools. 

DUEA announced the big win on social media, attributing it to the association’s members “taking action every single day.” 

“This was not handed to us. This was won. It was won by every single member who signed a petition, spoke at a board meeting, showed up to our actions and made their voices heard again and again. Our collective power made the difference,” the association said.

In the coming days, DUEA will distribute the tentative agreement to its membership for a ratification vote, also known as the formal approval or confirmation that legally legitimizes the new contract and agreement.