LOS ALAMITOS : School Employees to Receive 2% Pay Raise

Christmas came early for more than 700 full- and part-time employees of the Los Alamitos Unified School District when the Board of Trustees last week granted them a 2% pay raise retroactive to July.

“We’re experiencing serious problems, but we want to compensate our employees fairly,” said David E. Hatton, assistant superintendent for personnel, who negotiated with the employees on behalf of the district. “Our board did feel we could go ahead and give the 2% (raise).”

Hatton said the increases totaled $452,000 a year. The salary raise amounted to $290,00 for teachers, $99,000 for clerical and maintenance employees, and $63,000 for counselors, psychologists and some management employees.

Employees using their own vehicles for district business will receive a 3.7% hike in mileage reimbursements.

Hatton said teachers will receive from $400 to $1,000 in pay raises, depending on their qualifications and length of service. The lowest-paid teachers this school year will receive $27,276, while the highest-paid--those with master’s degrees or units beyond master’s degrees who have taught for at least 27 years--will receive $58,214.

Last year, Hatton said, the lowest-paid teacher received $26,741 and the highest $57,073.

The 2% increase was still short of the 3% projected increase in the cost of living, Hatton said.

Two employee groups, teachers and clerical personnel, are in the third year of a three-year contract that will expire in June, 1993, Hatton said. In 1990, the first year of the contract, the employees got a 6% raise. In 1991, they received a 6.75% increase, Hatton said.

The contract was reopened this year for salary negotiation, which Hatton described as “friendly.”

The pay increases will reduce the district’s reserves from $1.6 million to $1.2 million, which is 3.5% of the general fund, still above the 3% required by the state.

“We continue to worry about the economy and its implications to school districts,” Hatton said. “We’re watching it very carefully and planning for the future.”