Hemet teachers could be going out on strike soon in a dispute over salaries and class sizes.

Hemet Unified School District administrators are preparing for a potential walkout by recruiting substitute teachers and planning curriculum.

Substitutes willing to cross picket lines to teach the district’s 21,000 students will be well compensated. Hemet Unified is offering $295 per day, more than some teachers might earn. Regular pay for substitutes is $120 to $125 per day.

The increased pay for subs has raised the ire of some of the 1,000 members of the Hemet Teachers Association, who say they are among the lowest-paid educators in Riverside County.

Teachers, who haven’t received a raise in at least six years, are being offered a 4 percent salary increase plus $1,500 toward health benefits, retroactive to the start of the 2013-14 school year.

Teachers are asking for 6 percent raises and contract language that caps class sizes.

Hemet Unified is receiving more state money this year under a new funding program and has hired more teachers and reduced most class sizes.

Where they are, how they got there

Hemet teachers have not signed a new contract since their previous deal expired in 2012.

They took 22 unpaid furlough days in recent years to help the district through financial hardships when the state was not giving schools all the money they expected. Now that there is a new funding formula, which has increased the amount Hemet Unified receives, teachers say it’s time for payback.

Teachers claim low salaries make it difficult to recruit and retain educators.

District officials say recruiting isn’t a problem. Hemet Unified had more than 360 candidates at a spring job fair. Most of the teachers who are leaving are doing so because they are moving away, not necessarily for more money, officials say.

Hemet Unified hired 111 teachers for the 2014-15 school year, 57 of whom are filling new positions, said LaFaye Platter, deputy superintendent of human resources.

If there was to be a strike, it likely would come sometime in February. By law, teachers cannot walk out until all efforts have been made to settle their differences with the district.

Labor talks are in their final phase, called fact-finding. In that phase, each side designates a representative and they then choose a neutral third party to analyze the dispute. The two sides will meet with the fact finder Jan. 26.

Fact finding came after no settlement was reached following local negotiations and then mediation.

The fact finder will put together a report that will go to the Hemet school board, which can accept the report or reject it. If the report is rejected and the board imposes its latest offer on employees, teachers would be allowed to strike.

Negotiations can continue during the entire process.

Teachers have been working only the hours required in their contract and have not been participating in extra activities such as clubs and after-hours tutoring.

Educators are picketing outside many of the district’s campuses each morning and plan another protest outside the school board meeting on Tuesday.

What teachers want

The last strike in Hemet was in 1979, when teachers walked out for about two weeks in a battle to ensure that elementary school teachers had time to prepare for classes. The teachers won that fight.

Records of the last teacher strike in Riverside County could not be found. Neither the state nor county offices of education nor the California Teachers Association could provide any information.

There have been teacher strikes in the Alpine and San Ysidro districts this year and San Juan Capistrano teachers went on strike in 2010.

In addition to more money, the teachers are seeking a cap on class sizes. The current contract sets average class sizes, but no cap. So theoretically, if one class has 15 students and another 40, contract obligations would be met.

Hemet Unified has used some of the extra money it is receiving this year to hire more teachers, which has led to smaller class sizes, but it’s not unusual to find 35 students or more in middle or high school classrooms.

Platter said Hemet teachers are not as poorly compensated as they say, because they are contracted to work six hours and 19 minutes per day, less time than teachers in other districts, giving them a higher hourly wage.

Hemet Teachers Association Vice President Art Plinski, a teacher at Hemet High, said that may be true, but the contract calls for teachers to work unpaid hours at the district’s discretion, such as chaperoning overnight field trips or supervising at a dance or sporting event.

What if they strike

The school district has begun laying groundwork to deal with a strike. A resolution was approved by the school board Nov. 18 addressing such issues as closing schools, moving students and refusing to pay the district’s share of teacher health benefits.

At the same time, the teachers association presented a petition with more than 800 signatures stating they had no confidence in Superintendent Barry Kayrell. The petition said he has degraded teachers and lacks leadership.

In putting out a call for emergency substitutes, the district waived one of the usual requirements. Subs must have a bachelor’s degree, but won’t be required to have passed the California Basic Educational Skills Test, as is currently necessary.

Plinski said even with the high daily pay, it’s unlikely there will be enough teachers for every classroom. That could lead to consolidation and a lot of worksheets and movies being shown.

He says substitutes would not be doing more than babysitting.

But parents who choose to keep their children home could be harming their grades. The resolution states that any grades given during a work stoppage would be recorded and cannot be made up or modified.

Keeping children home also will hurt the district’s finances, because it receives state funds based on average daily attendance.

Support workers, such as secretaries, classroom aides and custodians, accepted the 4 percent salary increase and would be required to work if teachers go on strike.

Campus administrators are not union members and also would be expected to work.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9086 or cshultz@pe.com