VENTURA : Trustees to Vote on Teachers’ Contract

The Ventura Unified School District Board of Trustees will vote tonight on a proposed labor pact approved last week by the Ventura Unified Educators Assn.

The teachers’ approval of the tentative contract came after a year of sometimes bitter negotiations. Union President Jerry Mittelholtz said Monday that he is optimistic the board will approve the contract.

“If the district hammered out this agreement with us and we approved it, then I fully expect the district to approve it,” he said.

The three-year contract, if approved, would be retroactive to July 1, 1989, when the previous contract expired.

The proposed agreement calls for the district’s 660 teachers to receive half the district’s income for salaries, instead of the 58% received under the previous pact. The difference would be pooled with other money to pay for health benefits for all district’s employees.

Mittelholtz said it is not clear whether teachers in the 25-school district will receive raises because district officials are not sure how much money will be received from the state. A preliminary budget for fiscal year 1990-91 shows a possible deficit of $1.2 million, prompting officials to suggest personnel cuts.

Teachers were to supposed to vote on a proposed contract in March, but the vote was scrapped when negotiators heard that 75% of the teachers polled in a straw vote would not approve the pact because it called for them to help pay for the health benefits of retired teachers. The new agreement creates a separate pool of money for retirees.