ANAHEIM : Teachers, District in Tentative Contract

The Anaheim Union High School District has reached a tentative contract with the 736-member Anaheim Secondary Teachers Assn., almost a year after contracts expired, officials said Friday.

The one-year contract will give union members a 4.1% pay increase for the 1989-90 school year, said Bobbi Zane, a school district spokeswoman. Retroactive pay for teachers who have been working under an interim 3.2% raise for the current school year will be distributed June 30.

“It will be a nice little bonus for (teachers) when they go on vacation,” Zane said. The district Board of Trustees is expected to ratify the agreement May 10.

The agreement was reached after the two sides met Tuesday for a one-day fact-finding session with the California Public Employee Relations Board, Zane said.

Union officials, who organized a one-day strike in May, 1989, had demanded a raise of up to 8%. But school officials argued that the district did not have enough money.

Union negotiators said before the fact-finding session that they hoped to get at least a 4.6% pay raise but were disappointed that the state mediator sided with the district.

“We are not happy with” the contract, union President Norma Potter said.

“But we feel it is the best we are going to get, considering the current school board,” she added.

Potter said union representatives are considering sponsoring candidates to challenge incumbents in the November school board race. Four of five seats are up for reelection.