Pasadena Teachers Win Pay Boosts

The Board of Education this week ratified a contract that gave Pasadena Unified School District teachers raises of 10% to 15%, and at the same time reprimanded them for the protests that hastened the settlement with United Teachers of Pasadena.

Calling teacher boycotts of school open houses earlier this month “unfortunate, unprofessional and unnecessary,” board members said at this week’s meeting that “such action will not be ignored another time.”

However, board President Kathryn T. Nack said earlier that the public’s show of sympathy for teachers helped to end the contract dispute. An estimated 900 teachers picketed in front of schools and boycotted classrooms on back-to-school nights for three weeks in October.

Saul Glickman, United Teachers of Pasadena president, praised the new one-year contract as a major step toward bringing Pasadena teachers up to the average pay level for teachers in the county.

In a statement to the board, Glickman insisted that money from lottery revenues and other state funds can provide more salary increases in the future. “If you had prioritized these funds, the unpleasantries of recent weeks could have been avoided,” Glickman said.

Pay in the district has ranked at the bottom of 43 unified school districts in Los Angeles County and the school board pledged to bring wages up to the top quartile by 1989. School spokesmen said the new salaries put the district at approximately the middle of the county scale. Glickman said most school districts granted 6.5% pay increases this year.

The district’s 1,100 teachers will receive a 10% across-the-board pay raise retroactive to July 1. In addition, about 300 teachers who have at least 12 years of experience and master’s degrees will receive another 5.3% next June. The current beginning salary in the district will rise from $18,660 to $20,520 and the top annual salary of $31,200 will be $34,320.

The settlement was reached two weeks ago. Nack said the money for salary raises will come from increases in state funding of schools. A percentage of lottery funds has been pledged to teacher salaries.