Teachers Say Vote Was a No-Win Deal : Schools: Instructors debated to the end whether the compromise was acceptable. A division in the ranks was feared in a walkout.

The decision Friday by city schoolteachers to accept a 10% pay cut and avert a planned strike is a relief to many, but large numbers of angry San Fernando Valley instructors said they were faced with two equally bad choices.

“It is a no-win situation,” said Hester Nadel, a special education teacher at Reed Junior High School in North Hollywood. “You lose if you vote to cut your own pay, and if you do go out on strike you lose money and risk being divided.”

Veteran instructors say the campus atmosphere was far different this week than the mood before the 1989 teachers’ strike, with none of the unanimity and little of the anticipation.

Teachers hotly debated in school lunchrooms and faculty lounges this week whether to accept the compromise contract agreement drafted by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.

The last strike, which lasted eight school days and yielded teachers a 24% pay increase over three years, succeeded because the overwhelming majority of teachers believed the district could afford to pay higher salaries, say longtime instructors.

“Teachers united, will never be divided,” was the chant heard along picket lines and at rallies citywide.

This time, with a dwindling state treasury resulting in huge reductions in school district revenues, there was much more confusion and disagreement among the union’s rank-and-file. The assessment by teachers ranged from those who called the new contract a sellout, to others, such as Reed history teacher Pat McHarg, who said he voted in favor of the pay cut because “I’ll be losing money but keeping a job.”

McHarg and many colleagues say they are pleased that United Teachers-Los Angeles, the union representing all teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District, won the right to control management of their health benefits and to monitor district spending more closely.

But they held little hope that anything more than that would be gained in a walkout.

“The strike in 1989 for me was simple,” McHarg said. “There was money available and we needed it. I believe now that the state is short of money.”

In the final tally, 15,741 UTLA members voted to accept the proposal and 7,137 opposed. The announcement came hours after teachers received their already-shrunken monthly paychecks.

El Camino Real High School history teacher Jack Koenig is one of those angry over the outcome.

“There isn’t a hole in my mortgage payment, but there is a big hole in my paycheck,” said Koenig, who estimates he will lose about $7,000 a year under the new contract. His wife, also a city schoolteacher, will lose a similar amount.

“I have two children in college and in two years their tuition has gone up 60%; I am working harder, the job is becoming more dangerous and wages are going down,” Koenig said.

Mostly, teachers are angry because they believe the district misspent the money it had. Several recited a virtual laundry list of what they said was wasteful spending, ranging from the purchase of chalk from France to the full-time employment of bus drivers and a host of other trades people, rather than contracting for such services.

Marilyn Wolfson, a Reed Junior High School teacher, said she voted against the contract in part as a way of telling district leaders, “I don’t trust you.”

Some of the teachers’ anger was also directed at residents who have, since Proposition 13, generally opposed higher taxes to raise more money for public education.

“People keep asking, ‘What are the schools doing, what are the schools doing?’ ” said Leslie Shilo, a junior high school counselor. “Well, I am responsible for 672 students.”

Of all the groups affected, parents probably felt the greatest relief from the outcome of the voting.

“My children were just off for eight weeks,” said Vivian Burke, a West Hills mother. “I’m glad the teachers aren’t going out.”

El Camino Real High junior John Gould said he would not have minded taking a few days off during a teachers’ strike. He believes the teachers got a bad deal.

“I realize there isn’t much money, but I think the teachers deserve more,” said the 16-year-old West Hills resident.

Reflecting the attitude of many, John said, “The schools have become a big mess.”

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