VENTURA : Schools District Finds $1.25 Million

Ventura school officials have learned they have $1.25 million more to spend this year than they had budgeted but are putting off a teachers’ union request to use the extra money for pay raises.

A combination of getting $450,000 more than projected in state revenues and having expenses that were about $800,000 less than budgeted has left the district with the extra funds, Assistant Supt. Joseph Richards said.

Upon hearing of the additional money, the Ventura Unified Education Assn., which represents the district’s 650 teachers, asked to begin discussions with school officials about applying the money toward employee raises.

Ventura teachers’ 1% pay raise this year was their first salary increase in three years, union President John Gennaro said.

School officials could give an additional 1% raise to teachers and the 700 clerks, custodians and non-teaching employees in the district for only $400,000, Gennaro said.

Rather than immediately beginning discussions with the union on pay raises, school officials have hired an accounting firm to study whether the district should reserve some of the extra funds to pay future retirement benefits and to cover any budget shortfalls next year, Richards said.

“It’s going to be a while before we talk to the unions,” he said. “We have told them that we will talk to them once we have an idea where the state’s going next year, what our class size and needs will be.”

Gennaro said he is not concerned about the delay, but he expects the unions to begin discussions with the district once the accountant’s study is completed, probably in December.

“We expect to pursue a reasonable share of that money for our employees,” he said.

But, he added: “The truth is that the district is under no obligation to bargain with us on this.”

The teachers’ contract runs until June, 1995.