Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Lodi Education Association and Lodi Unified School District

2025-2026 Bargaining Updates

Bargaining Update 12/5/25: 

Hello everyone,

The bargaining team met with the district on Friday, December 4th and continued work on the transfer and assignment. We feel we are fairly close to being able to completely resolve the issues with this article.  

We also shared LEA’s Sunshine proposal for the coming successor agreement. That first read should be on the board agenda for the 12/16/25 board meeting and again at the first January Board meeting for the public hearing.  

We also discussed the issues regarding the 7-period day that came through from the survey. We know that the consensus is that most would prefer more block days as well as an actual finals schedule. The district acknowledged the concerns related to the finals schedule. However, there are logistics and issues that need to be looked into before a change can be made. The district will be checking into all of those issues and getting back to us soon in order determine next steps. The district expressed some concerns related to increasing block days but this will continue to be explored as we move forward. 

We will be meeting with the district again on 1/13/26 for Interest Based Bargaining (IBB) training. We look forward to this training and working in a less contentious environment.



In Unity,

Aimee Ramsower, Bargaining Chair

Lodi Education Association

Bargaining Update 10/29/25: 

Hello everyone,

The District and Bargaining Team continued to work on Article X: Transfers and Assignments. They agreed to meet on November 3rd, 10th and 25th to continue the collaborative work on this topic.  



In Unity,

Aimee Ramsower, Bargaining Chair

Lodi Education Association

10/29/25

Greetings,

I, along with the Bargaining Team and other LEA leaders, have been getting several questions regarding the retro pay. Your October check will reflect your new salary, and the retro check, which will be paid on November 12th, will be from January through September of 2025. There is no retro pay for the 2024 calendar year.

In order for you to estimate the amount of your retro check, Mike Heberle created a calculator which is attached. It is in both MS Excel and Google Sheets form, so you can use whichever you prefer. Please note that this calculator is an estimate only, and does NOT include any retro for stipends, co-curricular, or adjunct pay, To use the calculator:



1. Get a copy of the 2023-2024 salary schedule (you can find it here)

2. Make a copy of the Google Sheets calculator and save it to your Google Drive OR download the Excel version to your device.

3. Enter your salary for the 2024 year in the green box.

4. If you moved either a step and/or column for the 2025 school year, enter that amount in the second green box. If you didn't move, use the same number as you did in the prior green box

5. The estimated amount of your retro check will be in the last box.

If you would like to attend a CTA Conference, scholarships are available through both the Delta Service Center (DSCC) and LEA! The Delta Service Center scholarships are due November 20th, but MUST be signed by me before being forwarded to the DSCC. You can get up to $1000 for the following conferences:

• New Educator North, Dec. 5-7, Burlingame

• Issues Conference, Jan. 16 - 18, Las Vegas

• Good Teaching North, Jan. 30 - Feb 1, Burlingame

• Equity & Human Rights, March 13 - 15, Costa Mesa

• Women's Issues, April 10 - 12, San Diego

Please see the attached application form for more details and the requirements.

LEA has scholarships for the Good Teaching and the Equity & Human Rights conferences. The application is due November 28th and is also attached. For conference descriptions, please see the CTA Website.



In Unity,

Lisa Lennon Wilkins, President

Lodi Education Association

Bargaining Update 10/14/25:

Hello everyone,

The bargaining team met with the district today 10/14/25 and picked up working on the transfer and assignment language that had previously been looked at. Overall this meeting was very collaborative and productive. This is no simple task and will take some time to complete. We have scheduled 10/29 and 11/3 to continue this work.  



In Unity,

Aimee Ramsower, Bargaining Chair

Lodi Education Association

Bargaining Update 9/12/25:

Good evening members,

Today the Bargaining Team met with the District and the Mediator at 9:00am. LEA and the Lodi Unified School District have reached a Mediated Tentative Agreement on Friday September 12, 2025 at 8:00pm. The Mediated Proposal is attached. Please take a look and keep an eye out for the voting timelines.

A general membership meeting will be held via Zoom on Tuesday, September 16 at 5:30 pm. Please use the link below to join the meeting.

Also, please make sure that you have a correct home email address on file with LEA so that you receive a ballot. You may contact Lisa Wilkins at LodiEApresident@gmail.com with any changes.



In Unity,

Mike Heberle, Bargaining Chair

Lodi Education Association

Bargaining Update 9/3/25: 

Dear members,

At last night’s school board meeting, Superintendent Neil Young proclaimed that the District made an offer to LEA ahead of the scheduled mediation conference, which is scheduled for September 12, 2025. The mediator had indicated that LUSD could make a proposal, and “any proposals passed during mediation are regarded as an off-the-record event and enjoys absolute confidentiality”. The Association respects the mediation process and intends to keep the confidentiality required as we enter into negotiations.

The Bargaining Team did receive a proposal just hours before the school board meeting and is in the process of analyzing that proposal. As per the mediator’s instructions, the Association will not be bargaining in public, as we take the mediator’s words in earnest. LEA is disappointed that the District does not take the mediator’s injunction seriously, nor the mediation process.

LEA is at impasse with the District for the 2024 - 2025 contract year because they refused to consider any proposals made by the Association and refused to make the measly 1.07% COLA increase retroactive to July 1, 2024. The District also refused to allow LEA to distribute the $3.7 million offered in one-time monies towards health care to ALL members, not just members who take benefits from the district. Among the proposals made by LEA’s Bargaining Team were

• Capping committees/ events /activities to no more than 2 hrs/week and 30 hours total for TK – 8, and 2hrs/ week and 12 hours total for grades 9-12; and

• Moving one day of the five (5) pre-instructional days to the beginning of the second semester.

The district was “not interested” in bargaining these items, nor were they willing to move on their financial proposals.

LEA will need your help for us to be successful in the mediation process. Please continue to show up to school board meetings, speak at those meetings, write to the school board trustees and participate in upcoming events. The Organizing Committee met yesterday and will be announcing these events soon. 

Feel free to reach out to me or any other LEA officer or director if you have questions about the mediation process. Your site reps were given information at the last site rep meeting that can also be shared with you.



In Unity,

Lisa Lennon Wilkins, President

Lodi Education Association

Bargaining Update 8/30/25:

• The Lodi Education Association and LODIUSD are at Impasse.  There is a meeting scheduled with a mediator, for Sept. 12, 2025.

• The District is refusing to grant a one-time health and welfare stipend to all members and is denying us retroactive COLA (Cost-of-Living Adjustment) pay. This is a critical issue. This is not just about a year's compensation increase, it is about negotiations in the future. The Association stood up to advocate for more than the minimum—for meaningful improvements to compensation and benefits and the district has refused to address any changes. 

2024-2025 Bargaining Updates

Bargaining Update 2/3/25:

Greetings Members,

Today we met with the District. There were many conversations and below is summary of the topics/articles discussed.

• Salary and Benefits: The District has no movement on their financial proposal. They offer 1.07% nonretroactive COLA and the one-time money only for members that take District Health insurance. The Association is asking for 4.07% COLA. This is the 1.07% from this year and the 3% of the COLA that the District kept from last year. The District currently has $153,551,417 in the unrestricted reserve and currently also has $141,695,330 sitting in the “Books and Supplies” budget. The members deserve their COLA from last year and this year. In addition, all members deserve the one-time money, and the bargaining team is still pushing for ALL members to get it. The District has budgeted about 9 million dollars to retain teachers and the bargaining team feels this can be used for the longevity bonuses. Longevity bonuses are becoming more common in surrounding districts and remains a strong retainment tool for teachers in LUSD.

• Work Day/Work Year: The members were clear that they wanted more time to work in there classrooms at the beginning of the year and desperately needed changes to the extra duties teachers have to work outside the instructional day. The District is not interested in giving more time in classrooms or fixing the extra duties problems. They have only offered to move one PD day to the Monday we come back from winter break.

• Seven Period Day: This has been a big topic. The bargaining team has been surveying teachers and meeting with groups to hash out the details to try and mitigate the problems and issues that will occur if a 7-period day is implemented. The association has asked the District for more time to continue to work with high school teachers and make a plan that is in the best interest of students and teachers. A rushed plan is a failed plan.

• Transfers and Assignments: This is a complex topic and we will update everyone more as we continue to make progress

Bargaining Update 1/23/25:

Greetings Members,

• The District sent the LEA Bargaining team an amended proposal which clarifies that high school teachers will teach 5 out of 7 periods no matter which schedule the Association and the District settle on. The original proposal did not include this language in the "Straight 7" schedule, but it was included in the "Hybrid" schedule.

• I want to emphasize that both schedules will have implications for our members who teach at elementary and middle schools, and that the survey that was sent out is not a vote. What the LEA Bargaining Team is trying to gather is information on which schedule our members will prefer. Simply Voting is being used because it is the best way to gather this information anonymously and quickly. When you are contemplating this change to our work day and working conditions, please consider how a change to the high school schedule can affect all of our members.

Bargaining Update 1/21/25:

Today, the bargaining team met, discussed the results from the survey sent out about the district’s proposal related to a 7-period day, and prepared for our session on Monday, February 3, 2025. Last week, we sent members a survey requesting feedback regarding this topic. 

• The most noticeable data set revealed that LEA teachers support each other! From surveyed members, 90% felt that regardless of how this plays out they will support each other. 

• The members working in high schools, who supported a 7-period day, preferred the hybrid 7 period (Option B) schedule over the straight 7 (Option A).

• With this data, we recognize that we will need to see how the District plans to mitigate the impact and effects of a high school schedule change. There are concerns regarding class sizes. Teachers are aware that class sizes are always impacted by schedule changes like this and would like the District to propose a solution for that or reassurance with contract language that would not create a class size increase. 

• One of the elementary concerns is that the District stated verbally their intent is to tie weekly common planning time in the 7-period hybrid day schedule (Option B) to a District wide weekly common planning time.

• On Monday the bargaining team will meet with the District about the other contract articles opened per membership feedback as well. Salary and benefits remains a top priority.

• A concern is that the District has the 7-period day as an action item on the February 4th board agenda. This action item could impose the 7-period day that our members were not in favor of. We have members at Bear Creek, Tokay, and Lodi that have been working on 7-period schedules that are specific to the needs of their sites. They have presented a lot of information to the bargaining team since the District has indicated that they have interest in moving to a 7-period day. 

• We all need time to meet and discuss this. The bargaining team needs more time to meet with membership. 

• We are asking for your support in urging our board to delay action on this item at the Feb 4th board meeting and require the District to provide teachers with a proposal that would benefit students and teachers.

Bargaining Update 5/14/24:

LEA met with the district at 9:00 AM. LEA presented our contract proposal and a proposal for the weekly CPT MOU. The district asked questions and then left to caucus at 9:42 AM. At 12:03 pm, the district sent back the MOU with a two-word change.

The district returned at 1:25 PM and a verbal discussion was had regarding the contract. The district forgot to make the changes to add “TK” to the contract, and LEA asked for that revision which the district agreed to. The district says the school board is unwilling to budge on the one-time money. The district also proposed changes to the preschool salary schedule. The district’s proposal to strike out or remove language on class sizes (Article XII, Section A) is a non-starter for LEA. The district wants to

postpone some of the language around transfers and assignments as a reopener for the

2024 – 2025 school year.

The discussion turned to the CPT MOU. After discussion, the CPT MOU is decided. The district expressed a desire to come to a tentative agreement today. The parties went to caucus at 2:20 PM with an agreement to meet at 3:00 pm. However, LEA decided to generate another proposal in hopes of finalizing the negotiations. A document was passed from the association to the district at 4:10 pm. The parties came back to the table at 4:30 pm.

The parties caucused at 4:40 pm and the district reached out at 4:59 pm with clarifying questions. LEA answered their questions and asked for a written document. A proposal was received from the district at 5:35 pm and the parties reconvened at 5:45 pm. After a brief discussion, a tentative agreement was reached. A timeline for voting and member meetings will be forthcoming in the next few days.

Bargaining Update 4/26/24:

LEA met with the district at 9:30 AM. They came with no prepared response to LEA’s proposal from April 19, 2024. After five minutes of meeting, there was a caucus so that the district could discuss their response. District returned at 11:28 AM with only one sentence changed in previously proposed contract. No additional LEA contract language was addressed in the new proposal. Caucus was taken at noon with an agreement to meet at 1:30 PM. At 1:45 PM LEA requested an update on the meeting time and the district response was that they would return at 2:15.  The district returned at 2:24 PM and a verbal discussion was had regarding LEA proposed transfer language. The parties ended the session at 3:04PM.

The district and LEA have agreed in principle to the following, which remains unchanged from the April 3, 2024 session:

• additional advanced degree stipends,

• vocational teacher experience year for year on salary schedule

• adult school pay rate

• Bereavement Leave: allows registered domestic partners to take bereavement leave and days do not need to be used consecutively

• clean up language for sub payment if an elementary PE or music teacher is absent

Areas still under negotiation:

• Extended year pay for special education programs

• Preschool salary and workdays

• Adding preschool, SDC preschool and TK to the contract

• Teacher Evaluations

• Transfer Language improvements including findings from the arbitration of a grievance and the administrative transfer of special education classrooms or programs

• Special Education caseload limits, equal release time for SDC and RSP teachers, as well as adjunct pay for IEPs lasting more than 4 hours/mo past contract time

The district is not interested in negotiating the following:

• Improvements Maternity Leave

• Early retirement health benefits

Notes have been added to the most recent LEA proposal (see attached) to provide rationale for

LEA’s position. Those notes are in green in the attached proposal.  LEA has asked for an increase in one-time funds. The total one-time ask is $7,784 per FTE.  The district is refusing to increase one-time funds to give LEA parity with the one-time funds given to administrators.

In order to come closer to an agreement, the Bargaining Team the financial ask has been dropped to 5% on-going. However, the association recognizes that the full COLA (8.22%) has been passed to LUSD and it is inappropriate to use changes in LCFF funds. LEA recognizes that LUSD has enough in reserves ($183,000,000 unrestricted reserves and $118,000,000 in books and supplies) to pass the full COLA to members for the next 55 years. The Association has a desire to continue bargaining non-salary schedule contract language and hopes the District shares a desire to create a better environment for staff members. The Association is willing to accept the 5% increase with the trust that the District will continue to negotiate outside of this particular article.