OJAI : 12% Raise Demanded by Teachers

Ojai teachers are demanding a 12% across-the-board pay hike as part of a new contract they are seeking.

The district’s Board of Education received the proposal by the Ojai Federation of Teachers without comment Tuesday and set a public hearing for April 3 in the district’s board room.

Assistant Superintendent William Purdom said the district’s response to what amounts to a total contract rewrite is expected later next month. Until a new contract is ratified, the provisions of the expiring contract remain in place, he said.

Leo Molitor, assistant superintendent of business services, said he could not comment on the impact that the proposed 12% pay hike would have on the district’s general fund budget.

“I have not costed out their proposals; I’m still a little overwhelmed,” he said before the meeting.

Salaries for 140 district teachers now range from $25,869 to $44,304 and total just over $5 million. Teachers’ benefits account for about another $1.3 million of the current $12 million general-fund budget for the 1989-90 fiscal year.

Total personnel costs for the district, one of the largest employers in the Ojai Valley, make up 85% of the district’s overall budget.

Other union requests include limiting classes to 28 pupils instead of 31 in kindergarten through third grade and to 29 pupils instead of 32 in grades four through six.

The proposed contract also asks that secondary teachers not to be assigned to more than two departments in any one school year and for federation unit members to be allowed two shortened days a year instead of one for unit bargaining meetings.

The union also wants all teachers to either apply for membership within 30 days of starting work or to pay the union a “fair share” fee equivalent to the annual dues. If not paid, the union is asking that the fee amount be automatically deducted from the teachers’ paychecks.

The teachers also are seeking reimbursement for damaged clothing if they are assaulted on the job. Molitor said he doesn’t recall any cases of assault on a teacher where items of clothing have been reported ruined, and assaults are rare in the district.

There was one case, he said, in which a florescent light ballast dripped fluid onto a teacher’s chair and damaged his pants.