SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Teachers Approve 1-Year Contract

Teachers in the Capistrano Unified School District have overwhelming approved a $1.6-million contract that will raise their salaries 2% and passes increased health insurance premium costs on to the district.

In a 768-45 vote Wednesday, the 1,200-member Capistrano Unified Education Assn. endorsed the contract, which the school board is expected to approve Monday.

Officials from both negotiating teams said they were pleased with the one-year contract, which is retroactive to July 1 and also includes additional life insurance and special sick leave days, unpaid staff development hours, and improved vision-care benefits.

Ric Stephenson, president of the Capistrano Unified Education Assn., said the salary increases will push the minimum salary for new teachers in the district to $28,000, and to a minimum of $55,000 for teachers with more than 20 years’ experience.

The union’s original request for a 3% raise was countered by a district offer of 1%. The 2% compromise figure is more than double the state’s cost-of-living increase to the district, said Bill Eller, the district’s associate superintendent.

“So that money that we would have been able to put into programs and services will have to be transferred over to contractual salary,” said Eller, who also is the district’s chief negotiator.

Stephenson estimated that the district will pay an additional $600,000 for increased health insurance premiums.

The new contract will increase from two to three the number of sick leave days teachers may take for personal matters that can be done only during the school day.

One concession Eller said was a victory for the district is the teachers’ agreement to work up to two hours outside the school day for staff development at no pay.

Negotiating teams began serious contract talks in September and announced a tentative agreement on Oct. 10.

“I’m probably more pleased with the process,” Eller said. “It was a process that was professional and the closest that we’ve ever been to collaboration bargaining. . . . Having settled the contract before Halloween is in and of itself almost precedent-setting.”

In recent years, negotiations have been strained and have lasted well into the school year. Stephenson said teachers have not gone out on strike since the 1970s, but in 1990 the union picketed and boycotted school open houses after 11 months of unsuccessful talks.

He said he was pleased to have reached an agreement on a “fair and reasonable” contract “without having to jump through hoops.”

Both Stephenson and Eller credited new district Supt. James Fleming with creating an amicable atmosphere for negotiations and said they expect the district’s trustees to swiftly approve the agreement.

“The board (of trustees) was interested in starting off on the right foot under a new administration,” Eller said. “They realize it’s mutually to our best interest to not struggle with one another and to the dismay of our community, but to find areas where we can mutually agree.”