MISSION VIEJO : Teachers Accept Two-Year Contract

Ending a yearlong stalemate, teachers in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District have overwhelmingly accepted a two-year contract, which includes a salary freeze but no reduction in benefits.

On Thursday, about 400 teachers voted by a margin of 7 to 1 in favor of the contract, which was tentatively approved by a teachers’ association bargaining team earlier this month, officials said.

The teachers initially sought a 5% salary increase.

The Saddleback Valley Board of Education is scheduled to ratify the contract during a special meeting Monday at 6:15 p.m. at the District Educational Center Board Room in Mission Viejo.

The contract, which covers all 1,200 teachers and guidance counselors in the financially strapped district, is retroactive to July, 1991, and will extend to June 30, 1993.

Both teachers and district officials said they were satisfied with the settlement, given the grim budget picture for the district.

“But we have a bad year ahead of us so it’s hard to be relieved,” said Bonnie Chadd, president of the 1,100-member Saddleback Valley Educators Assn. “There’s still a lot of work to do.”

Supt. Peter A. Hartman said: “We wish we could do more, we wish the state budget permitted us to do more. But under the circumstances, it seems to be the best we can do. And we’re pleased to see that the teachers can recognize that.”

On Tuesday, the Saddleback Valley Board of Education approved a $2.3-million list of reductions, including a two-fold increase in busing fees and cuts in school athletics, to help cope with an estimated $8-million shortfall in the 1992-93 budget.

The board is scheduled to take additional budget action on June 30.

At the peak of the contract stalemate between the district and teachers last month, several hundred students from three local schools walked out of class in support of their teachers.