TUSTIN : School Employees Seek 2.5% Raise

New negotiating tactics are expected to pay off for employees of the Tustin Unified School District today in the form of a 2.5% salary increase.

If approved by the five-member school board, it will be the first salary increase in the district since 1990, when employees received a 3.7% cost-of-living increase. The move, which will mean cutbacks in health benefits and the elimination of a retirement incentive plan, is an effort to bring the district’s salaries closer to the county average, officials said.

The school district will shave 2.3%, or $742,184, from the medical benefits package to raise employee salaries, said Supt. David L. Andrews. He said the district has been offering a “Rolls Royce” medical benefits package for years at the expense of teachers’ salaries.

“The package we are offering is still very strong, but one that is much more realistic and reasonable,” he said.

Reduced benefits will mean district employees will have to use certain doctors and hospital facilities, said Tustin Educators’ Assn. President Don Larson.

Larson said that the new benefits package will increase employee deductibles based on their salary. Teachers who make less than $30,000 will continue to pay a $100 deductible. Employees making more will pay $200 and those earning above $50,000 will pay a $300 deductible, Larson said.

The district’s retirement incentive program will also be eliminated to make the salary increases possible. Elimination of the plan, which allowed teachers to retire but work for the district on a consulting basis for five years for as much as an additional $5,000 annually, will save the district about $80,000 next fiscal year, documents show.

Contract negotiators on both sides of the table said new bargaining tactics have eased tension between district administrators and employees. The district has a long history of hostile negotiations. In 1985, teachers went on a six-day strike because of a bargaining stalemate.

Andrews, who rejoined the district as superintendent in 1990, said the adversarial bargaining tactics that were used previously alienated administrators and employees.

“I knew that we had to change things,” he said. “Everybody wanted peace and quiet and fairness in negotiations.”

To that end, district administrators and employees began negotiations sooner this time, informally in November, 1991, and formally in mid-January. Previously, both groups had to squeeze several years’ worth of concerns into a four-month period between March and July 1.

Another change was the district’s introduction of a “living contract,” which allows both parties to come back to the table throughout the year to discuss problems that arise. Previous multi-year contracts locked both sides into agreements that may not work from year to year.

“It will be an ongoing review,” said Larson. “We will not have to wait two and three years to take care of a problem.”

District officials added that subcommittees of administrators and employees will be formed to talk about problems already on the table, such as reducing the 30 years it takes teachers to reach the top of the pay schedule.