PLACENTIA YORBA LINDA : School Board OKs Pact With Teachers

The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Board of Trustees this week approved a three-year contract with teachers.

The contract, which was approved by nearly 90% of the teachers, calls for no cost-of-living adjustment in the current year or the next school year. Salary steps, which increase a teacher’s salary based on years of service, will remain in effect for the current school year but will be frozen for the 1993-94 year.

Teachers will continue to receive salary increases when they complete district-approved education and training and receive additional degrees. Such increases are protected by state law and cannot be denied by the district.

Wages and benefits for the 1994-95 school year will be negotiated later.

Salaries for district teachers start at $24,882 a year and can increase to $56,194 for a teacher with a master’s degree and 25 years of experience. The union’s previous contract, which expired in June, 1992, granted salary increases of 10%, 7% and 7% over its three-year term.

Representatives of the Assn. of Placentia-Linda Educators and the district negotiated the contract for about six months. From the start, said Tim Van Eck, assistant superintendent for personnel and the district’s chief negotiator, the goal of both the district and the union was to avoid teacher layoffs.

“This was a very strong statement about saving jobs,” Van Eck said. “We wanted to work with the association to accomplish that, and that was their goal as well.”

Van Eck said the district would not have to send layoff notices to teachers.

The contract will maintain total teacher salaries for the district at about $49 million for the 1993-94 school year. Classified employees, whose contract is still being negotiated, account for another $14 million in salaries. The cost of benefits for both groups is about $16 million.

A contingency in the contract will allow both the district and the union to reopen negotiations on wages if there is a significant change in the district’s budget for the 1993-94 school year, such as a greater-than-expected reduction or an unexpected increase in state funding to the district.

The new contract also establishes an incentive for teachers to reduce absenteeism. Teachers who do not use any of their sick leave during the school year will receive two additional sick days the following year. Those who use only one sick day receive an additional day the following year.

The contract is retroactive to July, 1992, and will expire June 30, 1995.