Negotiations 25-26

All members of Ventura Unified School District's (VUSD) educational community are respected and appreciated by our administration, students, and families. VUSD's ability to recruit and retain highly qualified, motivated individuals (many of whom are our VUSD graduates) directly impacts students in our schools. We are committed to maintaining a dedicated and talented workforce of educators and support professionals, and we appreciate that the Ventura Unified Education Association (VUEA) and the Ventura Education Support Professionals Association (VESPA) are equally dedicated to the future success of our students.

Each year, the budget must receive a positive certification by the Ventura County Office of Education. The state requires Ventura Unified School District (VUSD) to account for the next three years when negotiating. When we negotiate this year, we must do so planning through the 2027-28 school year.

VUSD has been significantly impacted by several years of declining enrollment, lower-than-normal attendance, and loss of one-time funding. This has led the District to need to make budget reductions. We remain committed to transparency and will keep you informed as we navigate this process together.

2025-26 Negotiations Updates

03.03.26 Update

02.11.26 Update

On February 11, 2026, the VESPA, VUEA, and District negotiations teams met regarding Total Compensation.

The teams were exploring plan options, including lower-cost plans from Kaiser and Anthem PPO. Attached are the monthly rates for the Kaiser CDHP DHMO 80 and CDHP PPO 80 (Anthem). The attachment below lists the monthly health and welfare benefit premium costs for all current plans and the proposed additional plans.

The district presented a counterproposal that included no employee cost for health and welfare premiums for the 25-26 school year. See the chart in the counter proposal on page 2. This provides the employee contribution for each plan for 2025-26, and the annual premium the district will fund for 25-26. The chart also shows the amount the employee contribution for legacy employees (12 months) would have been for 2025-2026 if the district was not fully funding the employee premiums.

In addition, the district's offer includes 7 out of 11 health and welfare plans with no employee contribution and a district contribution to the employees' health savings account (HSA) for qualifying plans from July 1, 2026, to December 31, 2026 (as rates for the 2027 calendar year are not yet available). This chart can be found on page 4 of the counter proposal. For 2026-2027, if the health and welfare benefits premiums for 2027 increase by more than 7% as determined by the Group Purchasing Organization (GPO)/California Schools Employee Benefits Organization (CSEBO), the district agrees to reopen negotiations for the health and welfare component of total compensation.

Kaiser/Anthem Health and Welfare Rates

2026 Health and Welfare Premiums

VUSD to VESPA Total Compensation Counter Proposal #2

VUSD to VUEA Total Compensation Counter Proposal #2

1.31.26 Update

On January 15, 2026, the Medical Advisory Committee held a meeting to review options for other medical plans.

On January 15, 2026, the VESPA, VUEA, and the District negotiations teams met. No proposals were exchanged. The following tentative agreements for VUEA were signed:

January 21, 2026

VESPA negotiations Article 19

VUSD to VESPA Counter #3

VESPA to VUSD Counter #3

VESPA and the District discussed drafting an MOU regarding layoffs and the effects. The next negotiation session for VESPA and the District will be on January 30, 2026.

January 28, 2026

VESPA, VUSD, and the District Total Compensation

VUSD to VESPA Counter #1

VUSD to VUEA Counter #1

VESPA to VUSD Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

VUEA to VUSD Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

On January 28, 2026, VESPA, VUEA, and the District negotiated total compensation.

Under the District’s agreements with its union partners, once the total cost of health and welfare benefits exceeds $23.1 million, the parties agree to negotiate in good faith to explore all possible medical plan changes to keep the total cost below $25.7 million.

The District proposed a 2% on-schedule salary raise.

The District proposed for 2025-2026 an employer contribution of $18,500 for legacy employees (hired on or before February 14, 2024) towards the cost of annual health and welfare premiums, however no legacy employee would pay a premium in 2025-2026. For 2026-2027, the District proposed to increase the employer contribution for legacy employees to $19,000. The District also proposed an employer contribution of $16,500 for new employees (hired after February 14, 2024) towards the cost of annual health and welfare premiums.

The District proposed that if an employee’s health and welfare plan costs less than the total employer contribution amount referenced above, the remaining allowable amount would be contributed to the employee’s Health Savings Account (HSA). Any District contribution to an HSA would not exceed the maximum amount allowed by the Internal Revenue Service or the total employer contribution amount referenced above, whichever is greater. For the 2026 calendar year, the IRS HSA contribution limit for an individual is $4,400.

The District explained during negotiations that, under the current HSA plan premiums, employees with single or two-party coverage would not be required to pay an employee health and welfare benefits premium under this proposal.

The example the District shared during negotiations was, if a single party’s health and welfare premium cost was $10,000, this employee would not pay an employee contribution and they would be eligible for a district contribution of $4,400 to the employee’s HSA account because the total cost of health and welfare benefits would be less than the amount listed above. The District also discussed during negotiations expanding health and welfare plan options to include a plan to reduce the possible cost for families.

The next negotiations session for VESPA, VUEA, and the District for Total Compensation will be on February 11.

01.13.26 Update re VUEA

The District and Ventura Unified Education Association (VUEA) met for negotiations on January 7, 2026. The following was proposed at the meeting:

ARTICLE 8
BARGAINING UNIT MEMBER DUTIES, ADJUNCT DUTIES, WORK YEAR, HOURS, AND CONDITIONS

ARTICLE 9
CLASS SIZE

ARTICLE 31
SPECIAL EDUCATION

The District and VUEA reached a verbal tentative agreement on:

Article 8 Bargaining Unit Member Duties, Adjunct Duties, Work Year, Hours, and Conditions
Article 9 Class Size
Article 31 Special Education

The tentative agreements will be shared on our website after our next negotiations session.

The next negotiation session for VUSD and VUEA will be a joint session with VESPA to discuss total compensation on Thursday, January 15, 2026.

01.13.26 Update re: VESPA

The District and VESPA met for negotiations on January 8, 2026. The following was proposed at the meeting:

ARTICLE 19
LAYOFF, REEMPLOYMENT, AND EFFECTS RELATED THERETO

Article 19 VUSD to VESPA Counter #2

Article 19 VESPA to VUSD Counter #2

The next negotiation session for VUSD and VESPA will be a joint session with VUEA to discuss total compensation on Thursday, January 15, 2026.

12.19.25 Update

The District, VESPA, and VUEA met for negotiations on December 18, 2025. The following was proposed at that meeting:

At the December 16, 2025, Board of Education meeting, staff presented an update on the District’s budget. Based on current financial assumptions, the District’s expenses exceed its revenue over the required three-year projection period. The State of California requires school districts to have enough money to cover its expenses and a minimum of a 3% reserve for emergencies over a three-year projection period.

As a result, if these assumptions remain unchanged, the District would receive a negative certification, meaning it would be unable to confirm that it can meet its financial obligations in the next three years without making significant adjustments.

A factor contributing to current budget circumstances is the rising cost of employee health and welfare benefits. During the 2024–25 school year, the District spent $26.6 million on health and welfare benefits. For the 2025–26 school year, those costs are anticipated to increase to $28.9 million.

Under the District’s agreements with its union partners, once the total cost of health and welfare benefits exceeds $23.1 million the parties agree to negotiate in good faith to explore all possible medical plan changes to keep the total cost below $25.7 million. These anticipated costs negatively impact the District’s budget.

For decades, the Ventura Unified School District has been able to pay for the insurance plan premiums for health and welfare benefits at no cost to employees. Given the ongoing rise in costs, the District has proposed employee contributions toward health and welfare benefits as part of its efforts to restore long-term financial stability. See the initial proposals above that VUSD provided to both VESPA and VUEA to begin to address these concerns.

As discussed in recent budget videos by the Superintendent, as birth rates continue to decline and the average age of City of Ventura residents increases, home prices rise, and other factors, we have fewer students enrolling in the district, resulting in fewer students to serve, which impacts our budget. The links to those videos are below:

Budget Bites Episode 1

Budget Bites Episode 2

Budget Bites Episode 3

11-14-25 Update

The District and VESPA met for negotiations on November 14, 2025. The following was proposed at that meeting:

Article 11 – Hours was withdrawn by VESPA

Article 19 Layoff, Reemployment, and Effect Related Thereto VUSD to VESPA Counter #1 11.14.25

Article 19 Layoff, Reemployment, and Effect Related Thereto VESPA to VUSD Counter #1 11.14.25

The next negotiation session between VUSD and VESPA will be held on December 18, 2025.

11-13-25 Update

The District and VUEA met for their first day of negotiations on November 13, 2025. The following was proposed at that meeting:

Article 8 Bargaining Unit Member Duties, Adjunct Duties, Work Year, Hours, and Conditions VUEA Initial Proposal

Article 9 Class Size VUEA Initial Proposal

Article 13 Evaluations VUSD Initial Proposal

Article 13 Evaluations VUEA to VUSD Counter #1

Article 13 Evaluations VUSD to VUEA Counter #2

Article 13 Evaluations Tentative Agreement (TA)

Article 31 Special Education VUEA Initial Proposal

The next negotiation session for VUSD and VUEA will be January 7, 2026.

10-23-25 Update

The District and VESPA met for their first day of negotiations on October 23, 2025. The following was proposed at that meeting:

10-14-25 Update

9-26-25 Update

VESPA: On 9/26/25 the District responded stating that section 5 of the MOU states that the MOU may be modified or extended by mutual written consent no later than 30 days prior to open enrollment for the Health and Welfare benefit plan year. Open enrollment begins on October 1, 2025. The request did not meet the requirements of our negotiated language in the MOU and therefore could not be considered because the request was less than 30 days prior to open enrollment. However, the District is open to discuss under total compensation the items covered in the MOU in the upcoming negotiations.

VUEA: On 9/26/25 the District responded stating that section 5 of the MOU states that the MOU may be modified or extended by mutual written consent no later than 30 days prior to open enrollment for the Health and Welfare benefit plan year. Open enrollment begins on October 1, 2025. The request did not meet the requirements of our negotiated language in the MOU and therefore could not be considered because the request was less than 30 days prior to open enrollment. However, the District is open to discuss under total compensation the items covered in the MOU in the upcoming negotiations.

09-25-25 Update

VESPA: On 9/25/25 VESPA requested a demand to bargain requesting mutual consent from the District on an extension and/or modification of the September 12, 2024 Memorandum of Understanding re: Health Savings Account (HSA) for the 2026 Health Benefits year.

VUEA: On 9/25/25 VUEA requested a demand to bargain requesting mutual consent from the District on an extension and/or modification of the September 12, 2024 Memorandum of Understanding re: Health Savings Account (HSA) for the 2026 Health Benefits year.

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