Benefit Miscues Cause Rift Between Union, Charter Schools : Education: Teachers on two Valley campuses withhold dues, blaming their own organization and the school district for problems with health insurance.

Elementary school teachers at two Los Angeles Unified School District charter campuses have withheld their union dues for the last two months in a dispute over health benefits that pits the charter school teachers and administrators against the unusual alliance of the union and the school system.

The teachers and administrators from Fenton Avenue School in Lake View Terrace and Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima say their health benefits have been mishandled, leaving some employees uncovered and others paying for services they aren’t receiving. Moreover, they complain that the school district and the union have delayed--until Monday--meeting with them to discuss the problems.

The school district and the teachers’ union, historically antagonists, agree that there are problems with health insurance benefits, but say they are mostly the fault of the charter school administrators.

Teachers at charter schools, which are free of most district and union regulations and financially independent under a 2-year-old state law, are supposed to be covered by the district-wide health benefit program, established by the teachers’ union and the district.

But some teachers on the charter campuses complain that they are not receiving the medical coverage they are entitled to, and it is the district administration’s fault.

The charter school teachers have withheld about $9,000 from the union over the two-month period, saying the district has made grave errors--including dropping employees from the district’s insurance policies--and that a two-tiered system causes newly-hired employees to receive fewer benefits than older workers. The charter school administrators also contend that charter school faculty members have been paying more for health benefits than other district employees.

But district and union officials--who say that frank discussions of the problems are the key to solving them--make accusations of their own against the charter school staffs. They say they believe the charter campuses may be hiring employees without providing health insurance, thereby saving money by avoiding payments to the benefit fund.

They say about a dozen employees--who are entitled to health benefits--might not be receiving them because of such practices.

In an attempt to iron out their differences over the complex insurance issues, charter school administrators, district administrators and union officials held a packed, closed-door meeting late Monday afternoon at Vaughn. They agreed to continue working together and to provide each other with more information.

Teachers and administrators were hopeful by day’s end that the issues could be resolved, but they held open the possibility that they might opt out of the district insurance program and buy their own policies.

“I think we’re coming together and it can all be worked out,” said Joe Lucente, principal at Fenton. “There’s still a potential we could go our own way . . . we’ll wait and see what happens.”

Union officials said they could take legal action against the Fenton and Vaughn teachers for withholding dues, but hoped they could resolve the issue without going to court.

“The concern we have is that they (charter school teachers) are waiving the rights we’ve built up over a period of time,” said Sam Kresner, the union’s director of organizational services. “We’re not enthusiastic about a charter . . . giving away rights to health insurance.”

Said Stephanie Moore, a Vaughn teacher: “Charter schools are going to be here. We have to find a way to work together through the obstacles.”

Administrators at both charter schools say they are not mishandling their employees’ health benefits or the funds for them, and are providing health benefits to all employees eligible for them.

They say the district and the union have been unresponsive to the problems, which escalated recently when the spouse of a Fenton teacher was refused admittance to an emergency room during an appendicitis attack by hospital administrators who said he was not covered by school district insurance, as he thought.

“We’re paying but no one’s taking care of us,” said Yvonne Chan, the executive director at Vaughn. “It’s like we’re missing in action.”

School district officials acknowledged that administrative problems have developed but that no employee should have been denied benefits or dropped from the plan. “There has been confusion,” said Beth Louargand, the district’s deputy business manager. “There have been a few problems with people getting accepted” into the benefit program.

But Louargand said those problems are being remedied and that the schools should no longer have those concerns.