Adair v. Stockton Unified School District
Filed May 19, 2008, Third District
Cite as 2008 SOS 2929

Judgment on the Writ of Mandate Affirmed

Stockton Unified School District (Stockton) and Stockton Teachers Association (STA) negotiated a new “compressed” salary schedule that would allow teachers to obtain merit increases in salary more quickly.

When Stockton implemented the collective bargaining agreement, some teachers were reassigned to “step” levels that did not correspond to their years of experience. This prompted senior teachers and the STA (collectively, the Teachers) to file a petition for writ of mandate against Stockton, its governing board and superintendent (collectively, the District).

The Teachers claimed that the District’s actions violated Education Code section 45028, which requires that teacher salaries “shall be classified on the salary schedule on the basis of uniform allowance for years of training and years of experience.”

The trial court sympathized with the Teachers that the District’s formulation of the compressed schedule constituted a uniformity violation.

The court also held that no statutory exception to the uniformity requirement existed and that the Teachers had not waived their right to relief by virtue of the STA’s ratification of the contract.

Consequently, it ordered the District to restore the “experience credit” that the affected teachers had lost due to the implementation of the new schedule.

The District appealed contending as follows:

1. the “compressed schedule” as implemented did not violate the uniformity requirement of section 45028;


2. if the new system was not uniform, it fell within the “other criteria” exception to the uniformity requirement provided in Government Code section 3543.2; and


3. granting that there was a uniformity violation and that no exception applied, the writ remedy was beyond the trial court’s mandate jurisdiction. Moreover, it unduly interfered with the right of contract.

The California Court of Appeal agreed with the trial court that the District’s implementation of the salary schedule violated the uniformity requirement of section 45028. Hence, the judgment granting mandamus relief to the Teachers was affirmed.

The appeal court observed that Government Code Sec. 3543.2(e) did not apply where parties did not bargain for such "other criteria."

Consequently, the trial court properly remedied violation of Sec. 45028 by requiring that all teachers assigned to "steps" who have less than years of experience be transferred to higher steps. This move effectively increased their salaries and the overall teacher payroll while retaining the compressed salary schedule.