L.A. Schools, Teachers OK 5% Raise in Quick Action

In sharp contrast to last year’s bitter and prolonged negotiations, the Los Angeles Unified School District and United Teachers-Los Angeles have reached agreement on a 5% wage increase for the current academic year barely two months after bargaining talks began, officials announced Tuesday.

It took the district and the union nearly a year to agree on last year’s 10% raise. In the process, more than two-thirds of the district’s 26,000 classroom teachers staged a one-day walkout, and a veteran board member whom the union opposed lost his reelection bid.

“This is a very decent contract settlement,” union President Wayne Johnson said at a news conference with board members and district officials.

The tentative agreement, which union members are expected to ratify Monday, would cost $55 million and raise beginning pay to $23,440 and maximum pay to $43,064. The average teacher salary would be $35,000. The increase would be retroactive to July 1.

Board member Alan Gershman said the 5% raise “compares very favorably” with increases approved in other school districts in Los Angeles County this year. An average pay hike of 4.3% was won by teachers in 21 of 43 county districts that have concluded contract talks, he said.

District and union officials disagreed on the reasons behind the swift settlement of this year’s salary negotiations.

Gershman attributed it mainly to the availability of extra state funds. “The funds were available early and we set it aside,” he said. “I wish we could have had the money at this time last year.”

Gershman said actions taken by the governor and the Legislature in the 12 months prior to the 10% wage settlement last May contributed to financial uncertainty in the district.

Johnson, however, said the ease of this year’s negotiations was due to a “completely different attitude” toward teacher issues on the board and in the district’s upper management.

On July 1, three new members took office; two members--Julie Korenstein and Warren Furutani-- won with the union’s help. One veteran board member who was opposed by the union, John R. Greenwood, was defeated.

Also new to the district this year is Supt. Leonard Britton, formerly the top administrator in the Miami school district who is known as a strong supporter of improving teachers’ salaries and working conditions.

“Dr. Britton is deserving of substantial credit” in achieving the rapid settlement, Johnson said.

Union and district negotiators will begin to discuss a new contract Nov. 15. This is the third year of a three-year contract which allowed renegotiation each year on salary and certain other issues.