Teachers Union Marks Gershman for Board Defeat

Teachers in the Los Angeles school district have targeted Westside incumbent Alan Gershman for defeat in the April 11 school board election, pledging financial support and campaign workers for challenger Mark Slavkin.

Union backing can be crucial in low-turnout school board elections, and a victory by Slavkin, a Democratic activist and deputy to County Supervisor Ed Edelman, could tip the balance of power on the sharply divided, seven-member school board the teachers’ way. Three of the current members--Warren Furutani, Julie Korenstein and Jackie Goldberg--received strong campaign backing from the union and have often been allied with the teachers on major issues.

The other four members--Gershman, Board President Roberta Weintraub, Rita Walters and Leticia Quezada--have tended to support the view of Supt. Leonard Britton, particularly in the contract fight with teachers that has rocked the district in recent weeks.

The union endorsement of Slavkin, which had been expected, was approved at a union meeting Wednesday night. United Teachers-Los Angeles, which endorsed Gershman in his first run for the board in 1981, has been critical of him in recent years.

Called ‘Anti-Teacher’

UTLA President Wayne Johnson charged Thursday that Gershman “has just become very anti-teacher, very anti-UTLA.” He also said that, in the current contract fight over wages and power-sharing, Gershman has been “one of the most ardent opponents of any change in the district position on anything.”

Johnson said the union will contribute as much money as possible to Slavkin’s campaign. He compared this contest to one in 1987, when Harbor-area representative Furutani, with the help of teachers, defeated incumbent John Greenwood.

Gershman said he was “not all that surprised” by the union’s action. He acknowledged that he had opposed the board’s decision last week to increase its pay offer to the teachers. The school district is now offering an 8% raise for the current school year as part of a 20%-to-24% increase over three years. Teachers are seeking 21% over two years.

“I have the gravest concerns of the impacts of the . . . cuts that will have to be made” to pay for the salary increases, Gershman said, citing such examples as music programs and library aides. He acknowledged that cuts can be made in administrative spending, as the union has insisted, but he said these would not nearly reach the $100 million total needed to fund the proposed raise.

Gershman said he is “taking this race seriously” and hopes to match the $100,000 Slavkin has said he hopes to spend on the contest.

Slavkin has the endorsements of several prominent Democrats, including former U.S. Sen. John Tunney, KABC-TV political commentator Bill Press and Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles). He said Gershman is “on the side of the status quo” which he described as a “top-heavy bureaucratic system that has its priorities backward.”

No Immediate Help Likely

The outcome of the April election would not have an immediate impact on the current contract fight, because school board terms do not begin until July. But if the fight drags on into the summer, the election could be pivotal.

The union on Wednesday also chose not to take sides in the election in Weintraub’s San Fernando Valley district because, Johnson said, Weintraub has been responsive in the current contract battle. Earlier, the union had endorsed Korenstein, the third board member whose seat is up for election in April. Korenstein also represents a Valley district.

The school district, meanwhile, in an apparent effort to show that many teachers are not supporting the union’s actions, on Thursday revised its count of teachers who turned in grades to school offices in recent days. As a bargaining tactic, teachers refused last Friday to file mid-year grades with the district. Instead, grades were given to students on union-issued report cards. An earlier estimate that about 70% of the teachers withheld grades from the district included only high school teachers, district officials said Thursday.

At the elementary level, where the union traditionally is not as strong, 98.6% of the teachers turned in grades on official district computer forms, said Associate Supt. Gabe Cortina. About 44% of the junior high teachers turned in official grades, he said.