Dozens of Santa Fe Public Schools teachers and employees wearing stickers that read "5% Now" on Tuesday told the school board they want 5 percent raises for the current school year and not smaller hikes union officials said the district is offering.

A recent flier from the National Education Association-Santa Fe, the local teachers' union, compared what the union seeks to what the district is purportedly offering. While the union wants 5 percent raises for all employees — and an additional $500 each year — the districts' offer ranges from 3 percent for beginning teachers to a $50,000 minimum plus an additional $2 each year for Level 3 teachers, the flier said.

"A 5 percent increase is pitiful," Anita Gerlach, a Santa Fe High School teacher, said at the meeting, "but less is criminal."

District officials would not comment on their offers. "We need to work through the (negotiation) process," said Caron Snow, chief financial officer for the district.

Last spring, the Legislature mandated 5 percent average raises for all school employees. It also implemented the final stage of the state's three-tier licensure program for teachers, bumping the minimum for teachers with a minimum six years experience and a master's degree from $45,000 to $50,000.

The problem, district officials have argued, is that the increase for those teachers, as well as any money to pay for teachers advancing from lower levels, must be factored into the 5 percent average.

A teacher moving from Level 1, making about $32,000, to Level II, making a minimum $40,000, would get about a 25 percent raise. That leaves little money for teachers not moving to a new level, officials said.

The union represents about 1,200 employees, and the district has said it would cost $1.5 million more to cover 5 percent minimum raises rather than 5 percent average raises.

Union president Grace Mayer said Tuesday that the board committed to 5 percent raises when it approved this year's operational budget.

The board actually approved a budget that included the 5 percent average, with an assurance that all teachers make at least $1,000 more this year. Without that consideration, some teachers would have received less than 1 percent.

The board and the union must reach consensus before the board can approve a collective bargaining agreement.

Relations between the union and the district have been rocky over the last few years. After a change in union leadership nearly two years ago, the parties have struggled to find common ground.

Last year, the two parties talked for 15 months — the last of those with the help of a mediator — before finally reaching an agreement in June, more than a month after school was out. Both sides said at the time that they learned from that experience and didn't want to repeat it.

Tuesday's meeting also marked the return of Board President Frank Montaño, who suffered a heart attack two weeks ago.

Contact John Sena at 986-3079 or jsena@sfnewmexican.com.