SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Teachers Union Opens Negotiations

Capistrano Unified School District’s teachers union has opened negotiations with the district by proposing a contract that district administrators say could cost $5 million.

The Capistrano Unified Education Assn., whose one-year contract expired July 1, has not revealed how big a pay raise it wants but is asking the district to pick up additional insurance and pension costs and make it more difficult for teachers to receive a negative work evaluation.

The union also wants the district to negotiate any future increases in class size and to pay the salary of the union president and relieve him from teaching.

District administrators are preparing a counterproposal. The district recently slashed $4 million from the upcoming school year’s budget by cutting more than 20 programs and by increasing its average class size by one student.

The district and the teachers have a history of rancorous contract negotiations. During the last school year, negotiations dragged on into April before a contract, which was retroactive to July 1, 1990, was approved. The year before, teachers boycotted some school open houses and did some picketing.

The district has a revamped negotiating team, however, as Supt. Jerome R. Thornsley and other top administrators have retired or left in recent weeks.

“We are anxious to reach an agreement,” said Ric Stephenson, the teachers union president. “We hope that the negotiations with the new superintendent (James Fleming) and the new administration will be conducted in good faith.”

Assistant Supt. William Eller said the district wants to conclude negotiations quickly but has to remain fiscally solvent. “This is a tough budget year,” he said. “But we are looking forward to a collaborative bargaining effort.”

One of the union’s costlier proposals would have the district pay each teacher’s entire payment to the State Teachers Retirement System. Currently, the district annually pays 8.25% of each teacher’s salary to the system, while the teacher pays 8%. The union wants the district to pay the entire 16.25%. Teachers do not pay into the federal Social Security system, nor do they receive the federal benefits.

The district currently expects to pay $3.9 million to the system this year, a cost that would almost double if the union’s proposal is accepted.

“There is a real fear among teachers that they are going to be forced into the Social Security system, and it would be unfair if they had to pay into both,” Stephenson said.

The union also wants the district to lower the annual deductible on the district’s health insurance by an unspecified amount. Currently, the annual deductible is $250 for single coverage and $500 for family coverage.

Under the current contract, teachers are evaluated annually by their principals. The union’s proposal would allow those evaluations to continue, but teachers could not receive a lower evaluation than they had the previous year without getting the reasons in writing and without being given 60 days’ notice.

Currently, Stephenson teaches two hours, four days a week at Fred Newhart School and then spends the rest of the work week on union business. The district and the union each pay half his salary. The union is proposing that the district pay his entire salary but that he not have to teach.

“We advocate for the district at the national, state and local levels and pass along important information we have gathered,” Stephenson said. “Being association president is a full-time job that can take 60 hours a week.”