Anaheim Teachers to Vote on 1-Day Strike

After months of difficult contract talks, teachers in the financially troubled Anaheim Union High School District will vote Friday on whether to stage a 1-day strike next week to demonstrate their displeasure with the district’s latest salary offer.

Leonard Lahtinen, president of the Anaheim Secondary Teachers Assn., said talks with district representatives collapsed last week after a disagreement on salary increases for the next 2 years.

Lahtinen said teachers could vote to accept the district’s latest offer, which is far from what the association is proposing, or they could vote to walk out on May 10, which is also Teacher Appreciation Day.

“One day is sufficient to indicate to the district that we’re serious about rejecting their offer,” he said.

The teachers’ contract expired last August and, Lahtinen said, talks officially reached an impasse in January.

During negotiations, district officials have maintained that declines in enrollment since 1972 have left them unable to afford salary increases teachers have been requesting.

That position was reiterated Monday in letters signed by the district’s five trustees and the superintendent that were sent out to 900 teachers.

“Whose fault is it that the district is in financial difficulty?” the letter asks. “It is no one’s fault. Population growth and residence patterns are the root cause.”

LeRoy L. Kellogg, assistant superintendent for administrative services, said Tuesday that “in spite of our best efforts, our fixed costs continue to erode the district’s revenue reserves.”

According to the letter, each student lost translates into a loss of about $3,200 a year for the district. During the 1987-88 school year, that meant the district operated with a $4.8-million deficit, and a deficit of $1.5 million is projected for the 1989-90 school year.

The district’s latest salary offer would hold teacher salaries in the next school year to the same proportion they now represent of the total budget, after a reserve fund of 2.5% is set aside. Anything left over would be given as a salary increase up to a maximum of 5%.

The next year, any increase would come after a 3% reserve fund was set aside, with a cap at 8%.

Teachers, on the other hand, are seeking a guaranteed salary increase for this year of about 3.2%, which corresponds to the inflation rate, plus 41% of what is left after a 2.5% reserve is set aside for the district.

Union representatives rejected the district’s proposal, Lahtinen said, because there are no guarantees any money will be left over for salary increases.

“The result could be no salary increase for two years in a row,” he said.

Kellogg said the district hopes teachers will not go out on strike, but said if they do, school will not close down.

“We plan on keeping the schools open,” Kellogg said. “We plan on providing an educational program for the kids.”