Moorpark Teachers and District Agree on Tentative Contract : Labor: If ratified, the pact would give union members a bonus equal to 2% of their pay for the past year.

After nearly two years of negotiations, Moorpark Unified School District officials and representatives from the local teachers’ union have agreed to a tentative contract, union officials said Friday.

The compromise agreement settles an impasse in contract negotiations between the two sides that began a year ago when talks broke down. If rank and file union members agree to the plan, they will receive a onetime bonus equivalent to 2% of their pay for the past year.

On average, the payment will amount to about $700 per teacher, said Richard Gillis, president of the Moorpark Educators Assn., the local teachers’ union.

“Not everybody is going to be happy,” Gillis said. “But we all have to face up to the realities. This will clear the way for negotiations in June.”

The union has been operating under an old contract that was temporarily extended by the district. That extension expires in June. Gillis said the current agreement is only an interim solution until a new contract for the next three school years is agreed upon.

He said he hoped the process to reach an agreement on that contract runs smoother than during the past two years.

Members of the teachers’ union had resorted to picketing school board meetings and school district offices after negotiations on a contract reached an impasse a year ago. Even after a state mediator was brought in to help negotiations, the two sides could not reach a compromise until this week.

Initially, the teachers’ union was pushing for a new three-year contract, while the district wanted to extend the existing contract.

“We didn’t want to have to reopen the whole process and reinvent a whole new deal,” said Tom Baldwin, a school board member who negotiated with the union.

Baldwin said the district’s finances continue to look grim with a projected $600,000 deficit. He said the compromise was a good-faith gesture on both sides to clear the slate in preparation for negotiations on a contract to cover the next three years. The bonus offered the district’s 200 teachers will cost about $180,000, he said.

“Right now we don’t know how dark our future finances are,” Baldwin said. “This will clear the way for the next round of negotiations.”

The union will probably announce its acceptance of the new contract at the school board hearing on April 12, union President Gillis said. After that the union will submit its proposal for the next round of negotiations.

Baldwin said he thought it would take until fall before the two sides could formally begin talks.

Pam Castro, another board member who negotiated with the teachers’ union, said both sides know that they will have to lower their expectations to reach an agreement for the next contract.

“The (union) has been wonderful to work with, really,” Castro said. “They understood the financial situation the district is in, and we truly would love to give them additional money--they deserve it--but these are tough times. We’ll see what happens.”