Ventura Unified School District on brink of its first-ever teachers strike

Teachers and staff in the Ventura Unified School District are on the brink of a strike. If it happens, it’ll be the first teachers strike in the district's history.

Two unions, the Ventura Unified Education Association (VUEA) and the Ventura Education Support Professionals Association, announced their intention to walk out if a deal can’t be reached.

Sarah McLaughlin, president of the VUEA, said the strike would begin Dec. 2.

If that happens, it’ll be the first time the Ventura Unified School District has had to deal with a teachers strike in its 50-year history. Ventura Unified serves 13,800 students and has approximately 1,200 unionized employees.

Unionized teachers and support staff are asking for more money. The district’s new offer includes a raise but also shared costs in health benefits. In other words, help pay for the rising cost of healthcare benefits.

A spokesperson for the district explains that Ventura Unified is dealing with higher costs in providing benefits to its employees.

“In 2024, the district and the employee unions agreed that they would come back to the table to discuss if health and welfare costs increased over $23 million, and they have,” said Heather McGowan, the VUSD Labor Relations spokesperson. “In fact, since then they’ve increased to $27 million because we have not been been able to come to an agreement around managing those health and welfare costs.”

The union says the district has plenty of money in reserves to come up with a better deal.

“Currently, our reserves are a little bit higher than usual and that’s because we haven’t yet settled on an agreement. That will come back to its normal levels once the agreement is set,” McGowan said.

No new talks have been scheduled, but the unions and district want to work something out before the Dec. 2 strike deadline.