Perris Elementary Teachers Association (PETA) members organized in mass on Thursday, rallying in the streets to demand competitive pay that will attract new teachers while expressing their frustration at school officials who have consistently disrespected them by using financial manipulation in order to continue sub-standard pay practices.

125 teachers gathered outside the Perris Elementary School District office on Thursday to register their dissatisfaction with a school board that has communicated through its actions it does not value its outstanding educators. While it has rewarded Superintendent Vincent Ponce with a salary of nearly S230,000 making him one of the highest-paid public employees in the county, teachers have been left behind- ranking near the bottom in pay in Riverside County.

The final insult was the district request for a waiver from the Riverside County School Board to allow it to use less than the state-mandated percentage for employee salaries while simultaneously reclassifying administrators and raising their pay. To do this, the district “cooked the data” to make it appear Perris teachers are appropriately compensated by searching out districts that are not comparable to Perris to make a specious argument.

PETA members spoke a clear message to Perris district officials-Perris Elementary teachers will no longer accept the disrespect of manipulative accounting practices and substandard pay from the Perris Elementary School Board.