Shoreline Unified teachers, district reach tentative contract deal
The Shoreline Unified School District has reached a tentative three-year contract agreement with its teachers union.
The pact was ratified by the 48-member Shoreline Education Association. It will be up for a vote at the district’s board of trustees meeting on Oct. 17, said Adam Jennings, the district superintendent.
“We appreciated the opportunity to work collaboratively with our teachers to find a balance between offering competitive compensation to our staff, while also increasing the operational efficiency of the district,” Jennings said on Wednesday.
The pact would provide a flat $4,000 per educator plus a 4% salary increase for the current year, retroactive to July 1. In 2025-26, there would be a 4.5% increase, and a 5% increase in 2026-27.
In addition, the contract provides increases to employee health benefits, said Dee Lynn Armstrong, chair of the union’s bargaining team.
“The starting salaries for Shoreline educators were the fourth lowest in Marin County, ranking 13 out of 17 Marin County school districts,” Armstrong said. “Our starting salaries now rank fifth out of 17.”
Armstrong said the new salary schedule will allow the district, which had been struggling to recruit and retain teachers, to have a stronger competitive edge in attracting quality staff.
Tina Righetti, a union bargaining team member, added that the new salary levels will allow more teachers to afford to live closer to where they work.
“With the high cost of housing in Marin and Sonoma counties, our newest educators are struggling to make ends meet,” Righetti said.
“Our salary increases raise an SEA starting salary to $70,860 for the 2024-2025 school year,” she said. “In the 2026-27 school year, starting salaries will inch up to $77,752.”
The union and the district had agreed to suspend talks after a May 23 bargaining session failed to bring the two sides closer on wage increases. Negotiations resumed after the new school year began in August.
The Shoreline Unified School District serves about 500 students in rural Marin and Sonoma counties and has an annual budget of about $19 million.
The district includes Tomales High School, Bodega Bay School, Tomales Elementary School, West Marin-Inverness School and three preschools.