HUNTINGTON BEACH : School Employees Agree to Freeze Pay

About 1,200 teachers and other employees in the cash-strapped Huntington Beach Union High School District have settled on a contract that includes no pay increase for the second straight year.

District Supt. David Hagen announced at Tuesday’s board meeting that he will keep pace with district workers by voluntarily giving up a raise that had been guaranteed in the second year of his $98,000-a-year contract.

Board President Bonnie Castrey called Hagen’s action “very commendable” and said it shows employees “that he really cares” about their financial predicament.

Trustees also made a tentative decision Tuesday to cut $2.5 million in school operations money for the fiscal year starting July 1. The cuts, based on an expected 5% drop in revenue from the state, will be made official when the final financial news is received later from Sacramento.

This week’s reductions included increasing class sizes, elimination of 16 filled classified positions and six unfilled classified positions and deferring maintenance of some facilities.

Slashes come after $3.1 million in cuts made in March, including the elimination of an administrator at each school site, reductions of about half the nurses and psychologists in the district, a cut in pay for athletic coaches and the closing of Huntington Beach High School’s swimming pool.