BREA : Teachers, District Agree on Contract

After more than two years of on-and-off fighting the bargaining table, the Brea-Olinda Unified School District and the Brea-Olinda Teachers Assn. have reached agreement on a three-year contract that has both sides happy.

“It’s a good, solid agreement, said Assistant Supt. Peter Boothroyd. “Both sides are pleased with the elements finally put in it.”

“We got what we wanted, they got what they wanted,” said Laurry Bishop, president of the teachers’ union. “We’re pleased.”

The contract is retroactive to July, 1992, and runs through the end of the 1994-95 school year. The district had sought a multi-year contract for planning purposes, Bishop said.

Under the agreement, teachers received a combination of a pay raise and bonuses. The contract also allows teachers to take time off to care for a sick child or when there is a death in the family.

Teachers get one day of personal leave for every 30 days of sick leave. The personal leave is separate from the federally mandated leave program approved this year by Congress.

The district also agreed to a union demand for a vote among teachers on whether union members and non-members would pay an agency fee. Teachers recently approved the fee by a vote of 118 to 28. It allows the union to collect about $50 annually from non-union teachers to cover the cost of union services, such as contract and grievance representations, Bishop said.

Union dues are $62.50 annually and include membership fees in the North Orange County Teachers Assn., the California Teachers Assn. and the National Educators Assn.

District officials have adamantly opposed the agency fee, saying it jeopardized the district’s ability to attract quality teachers.

But union officials have argued that since all teachers benefit from the union’s work, everyone should share in the representation expenses.

In their first pay raise in more than two years, teachers will receive a bonus equal to 2% of their 1991-92 base pay for school year 1992-93. That’s about $400 to $1,000 per teacher, Bishop said.

Next school year, they will receive a 3% bonus, or $600 to $1,200 each. For the 1994-95 school year, the teachers will receive a 2% increase in salaries, based on 1991-92 levels.

Under the agreement, beginning teachers will start higher on the pay scale than previously, at $24,404 rather than $21,155, Boothroyd said. Top paid teachers who earned $48,722 will earn close to $50,000 annually by the end of the contract.

The one time-payment will cost $270,000 to the district this school year. Next year, it will cost $405,000, he said. The 2% salary increase in school year 1994-95 will cost the district $270,000. The current district budget is $25 million.

“We have the money in our budget to pay for this agreement,” Boothroyd said. “Even if the state gives us a shortfall next year, we’re still financially able to meet this obligation.”

He said this is because $675,000 of the $945,000 package is in one-time bonus payments.