What's at stake?
While deliberation drags on, it’s not just the Faculty Senate’s fate that hangs in the balance.
The yearslong debate over Clovis Unified’s Faculty Senate, which critics equate to a company union, will stretch on now that a landmark ruling from the Public Employment Relations Board has been challenged.
This time, it’s the Association of Clovis Educators – a group that’s been seeking recognition as the exclusive representative of teachers for years – who filed an exception to the PERB decision, seemingly appealing their own victory.
Though the December ruling sided with ACE in finding that Clovis Unified gave illegal support to the Faculty Senate in the form of stipends and release time for the group’s officers, it stopped short of calling for the group to dissolve – which ACE is doubling down its request for in its appeal.
“Without the disestablishment of Faculty Senate, that puts somebody in the position of having to police the behavior of Faculty Senate and the behavior of the district,” said ACE spokesperson Kristin Heimerdinger.
The district told Fresnoland they’ve already stopped some of the support it’s given Faculty Senate in the past, including release time, office space, a cellphone, and a district vehicle.
Faculty Senate Vice President Bill Buettner confirmed Tuesday that their executive board members have not been offered stipends since the ruling.
“We have no intention of not complying with the judge’s ruling,” he said, “and we are disheartened that ACE has not given us the opportunity to do so.”
“Once the ruling becomes final,” said Clovis Unified spokesperson Kelly Avants in an email Tuesday, “then we will move forward with any remaining remedial actions identified by PERB.”
While deliberation drags on, it’s not just the Faculty Senate’s fate that hangs in the balance. So does the future of unionization efforts in California’s largest district without a teachers union, where some have pointed to the senate as a key obstacle to these efforts through the years.
Long-awaited PERB ruling for Clovis Unified teachers
PERB’s December ruling came in response to years’ worth of charges that ACE filed against the district and Faculty Senate, dating back to 2021.
But it also followed a similar PERB decision from 1984, which ACE said the district has failed to heed for decades.
That ruling came after the Faculty Senate’s initial formation in 1977 “as an alternative to exclusive representation and collective bargaining,” according to PERB’s December decision.
The 1984 ruling similarly found that Clovis Unified gave illegal support to the Faculty Senate in the form of release time, supplies, and other benefits not afforded to another group of teachers trying to unionize at the time.
It called for the district to stop giving financial support to the senate and encouraging employees to join the senate instead of other groups.
“It’s an unfortunate position that we’re in,” Heimerdinger said, “which is that we do not trust our employer to follow the law. And with good reason, because they were told in 1984 to follow the law, and not only did they not follow the law, they doubled down over time on their support for Faculty Senate.”
Buettner meanwhile said Faculty Senate deserves a chance to show they’ll comply with the ruling.
The group sent a mass email to all employees right after PERB handed down its decision in December, asserting that “Faculty Senate can and will continue to exist.” The email also said the group would comply with the ruling “without admission of any wrongdoing.”
“We don’t believe that we have interfered, but the judge has ruled that we need to promise to stop interfering,” Buettner said regarding the email. “So we have no problem promising to stop interfering.”
He said Faculty Senate is currently seeking support for legal counsel on how to respond to the appeal.
What happens now with unionizing efforts in Clovis Unified?
Some of the perks of the December ruling for pro-union advocates in the district are now on hold as the appeal process plays out.
For instance, the signatures ACE has collected from teachers who want them as their exclusive representative were supposed to receive an extra year before they expire.
ACE has declined to share their signature numbers.
“We have more people every week who sign on to support us,” Heimerdinger said, “and we will continue with those efforts.”
A rival group seeking to become teachers’ exclusive representative could also benefit from a signature extension once the ruling becomes final.
Called the Independent Clovis Unified Educators or ICUE, the group told Fresnoland they’ve collected over 700 signatures from teachers as of Friday.
In an email to Fresnoland Friday, ICUE spokesperson Erin Garcia thanked Faculty Senate for its service while asserting the group “does not see a way forward for Faculty Senate that will not be continually embroiled in unfair laor practice charges by ACE/CTA,” referring to the statewide California Teachers Association.
ACE is CTA-backed, which ACE leaders say gives them access to expertise on school finance and other issues. ICUE has no CTA affiliation, which leaders say frees them from outside influence.
“The founders of ICUE and the over 700 supporters believe it is time for CUSD to move forward,” she said, “into having its teachers represented by a group that can help make CUSD the very best school district while complying with California labor law.”
An organization would need signatures from over 50% of Clovis Unified’s roughly 2,200 certificated employees to become the teachers’ exclusive representative in collective bargaining.
Faculty Senate won’t be competing with these groups to become teachers’ exclusive representative, Buettner said. They instead want a “collaborative” relationship with the district.
“We believe that people can be non-adversarial with the administration without being a puppet of the administration,” he said. “We believe they are two different things.”
