East County

Teachers in the Grossmont Union High School District are scheduled to vote Tuesday on a tentative contract that would avert a threatened one-day walkout next week and a potentially lengthier strike scheduled to begin Jan. 31.

Negotiators for the district and the Grossmont Education Assn. reached the agreement Wednesday, a day after a state mediator seemingly had given up hope that a new contract could be agreed upon before the January strike deadline.

Under the proposed contract, teachers would receive a 5% raise retroactive to July 1 and an additional 1% pay hike Feb. 1. Salaries and fringe benefits would be renegotiated after one year.

Also, the school district agreed to use up to 35% of the funds it receives from the California Lottery to hire as many as 13 teachers to lessen crowding in 10th-grade English classes.

The district, which initially offered teachers a 2.54% pay raise, earlier this month cut supply budgets and postponed the replacement of departing teachers to make a 5% raise affordable, according to school board President Betty Pengelley.

Teachers at first asked for a 7.75% raise, then lowered their request to 7%.

The association, which represents nearly 900 district workers, had vowed to stage a one-day walkout Dec. 6 and to strike Jan. 31 to dramatize the issues in the contract dispute.

About 20,000 students from El Cajon, La Mesa, Lemon Grove and Spring Valley attend the district’s 10 schools.