Moorpark Teacher Contract Talks Break Off Again

Contract negotiations have broken down again between the Moorpark Unified School District and its teachers’ union, even with the assistance of a state mediator called in since negotiators hit an impasse two months ago, officials said.

Teachers began informational picketing outside district schools last week in an attempt to build support among parents, Moorpark Educators Assn. President Guy Aronoff said.

“What we’ve basically done is come around Tuesdays and Thursdays in the morning, just to let parents know what’s happening,” Aronoff said. “The picket signs basically read, ‘Join MEA’s Children’s Crusade.’ ”

The district has offered the teachers a onetime, 2.5% salary bonus that would not become a part of the formula used to determine future teacher salaries. The union had sought a 4% raise that would be incorporated into the salary formula, not the onetime bonus the district is offering.

School board member Tom Baldwin said the district made its best offer, given budget restraints. He said the 2.5% bonus, when applied to all district teachers and employees, would cost $400,000.

“We’re already looking at a $1.2-million deficit this year or more,” Baldwin said. “And the very fact that the district is willing to cough up another $400,000 is, to me, bending over backward to be generous.”

Baldwin said teachers would find it hard to generate broad-based support.

“I can’t see parents rallying to their cause in today’s economy, when people know that the teachers are lucky to have a job,” he said. “All of us are drinking at the public trough and the public trough is running dry.”