SIMI VALLEY : Pay, Class Size Key to Teachers’ Contract

Representatives of the Simi Valley teachers union are asking the school district to continue basing their raises on teachers’ salaries in other Southland districts and to place a cap on class size, according to the union’s initial contract proposal.

Under the current three-year contract, teachers in the Simi Valley Unified School District receive raises based on a comparison of 10 similar-sized school districts in Southern California. The teachers received a 6% raise in 1988-89, a 7% raise in 1989-90 and an estimated 8% raise for 1990-91, district officials said.

“The whole purpose of the formula was to get us where we should be. Since we got there, we want to stay,” said Hal Vick, executive director of the Simi Educators Assn., which represents about 750 teachers.

Union leaders have also suggested that the contract contain a cap on class size, a change from the current staffing level of 29 students for kindergarten through third-grade classes and 31 students per class for all other grade levels.

The union has proposed that kindergarten through third-grade classes have a cap of 28 pupils, fourth-grade through 12th-grade classes have a maximum of 30 students, physical education and music classes have no more than 40 students and industrial classes, such as science and home economics, have no more students than classroom workstations.

In March, the union filed grievances claiming the district violated the contract when it laid off 32 temporary teachers and five school nurses to balance an $8-million deficit. An arbitrator ruled last month against the union in 10 of the grievances, prompting union officials to pursue stricter class-size regulations in the new contract.

School district officials are expected to present their contract proposal in early January, Assistant Supt. Leon Mattingley said. The existing contract is scheduled to expire June 30, 1991, and negotiations could begin in late January or early February, district officials said.