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Some 98% of Las Lomitas Education Association members voted to authorize a strike unless Las Lomitas Elementary School District management agrees to a new contract, including a 10% salary bump. Negotiations have been at a “complete standstill” according to a Friday, Sept. 27, press release in which the union announced the potential strike.
In August, certificated staff, which includes teachers and librarians, at Las Lomitas Elementary School in Atherton and La Entrada Middle School in Menlo Park entered their second year without a teaching contract since July 1, 2023. Their last raise, 5%, was for the 2022-23 school year.
“It’s about time district management reprioritizes educators instead of focusing resources on newly created administrative positions, salary increases for top administrators and administrative luxury retreats,” said LLEA Co-president Daniella Lefer, a teacher at La Entrada, in a statement.
The press release notes that district management has failed to agree to a deal that retains and recruits qualified educators, and provides quality health insurance, so that educators are not forced to take second jobs.
LLEA Co-president Jennifer Montalvo, a school counselor at La Entrada, said in a statement that “management should be working with us to identify what is needed for our students, rather than investing in non-student-facing programs and initiatives. As educators, we don’t want to strike, but we will if it means putting students first, not last.”
‘We don’t want to strike, but we will if it means putting students first, not last.’
LLEA Co-president Jennifer Montalvo
LLEA leadership told The Almanac that it does not have a strike date set yet. There is a fact finding hearing scheduled for Oct. 2. The union conducted the vote on Thursday, Sept. 26.
“We will be strike legal about a week later after the fact finding report becomes available,” according to LLEA. “While this is not the desired path, we are prepared to take action to prioritize the needs of our students and members.”
Starting salaries in the current LLEA contract start at $71,320 and max out at $159,186. The median household income in San Mateo County is about $149,000.
LLESD pays the least locally in both starting and maximum salaries. The Portola Valley School District pays a starting salary of $82,130 and a maximum salary of $161,886. The Menlo Park City School District pays certified staff a starting salary of $75,389 and a maximum of $167,999. The Woodside Elementary School District starts certified teachers at $77,411 and $163,575.
According to Superintendent Beth Polito, in the last three years, the district received $6.1 million of property tax increases. It also spent $4 million more on salaries in 2023-24 than three years ago, she said.
“The district’s negotiating team has stretched our budget to make an over of a 5% salary increase and an almost $2,000 bump in its contribution to health care coverage,” according to Polito. “At the same time, LLEA’s request for a 10% salary increase would create a budget shortfall of almost $10 million by the 2026-27 school year.”
“We were able to hire for all openings this summer,” she said. “To our knowledge only one of those positions was vacated by a teacher who was able to secure a position that paid more than LLESD. This position is in a HS (high school) district which is funded at a different rate.”
According to the union, the district had a record amount of staff attrition this school year, with 11 teachers leaving the district.
Polito said in an email that the district has been able to “hire some fabulous teachers to replace those who have left us for retirement, moving and other reasons.”
Redwood City attorney sues ‘First Amendment auditors’ after Menlo Park disputeApril 2, 2026 11:31 am
We definitely need to rein in the administrative salary bloat and the cushy unnecessary trips that administrators regularly treat themselves to.
This does not mean, however, that the teachers are entitled to a 10% pay bump. This is much more than most companies give across-the-board to all employees. Instead, we should look to give larger raises to teachers who are doing the best work, to make sure that we retain those teachers. Otherwise we incentivize the best teachers to leave, since they will have the best outside opportunities.
Lastly, articles like this reliably fail to mention the HUGE perk that teachers receive: their kids can attend LLESD schools without living in the district. This means they can live in RWC or other much less-expensive areas and still send their kids to Menlo Park schools. This perk is worth tons, as they can save hundreds of thousands of dollars when buying a home, plus $10k or more a year in property taxes. This perk should be quantified—at least as an estimate/average—and included in the total comp calculations. It is disingenuous (or ignorant) to compare average SV comp without including this key factor. Oh, and teachers are paid for 9 months of work. Factor in these two material differences, and the salary comparison looks quite different.
Food for thought: Not every teacher has children who attend LLESD schools. If you want to quantify that perk, should those without children be compensated for not having children attend the LLESD? It’s time to put the teacher’s only work nine months of the year argument to bed. My experience as a family member of a non-LLESD educator is that teachers work well beyond their contracted hours for no compensation. They work more than nine months in nine months. The administration never mentions that perk to the budget – all the free work they get from teachers. If they had to pay teachers overtime, school districts up and down the state would be bankrupt.