Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Lancaster OKs Back Pay for Teachers : Education: The district agrees to provide $265,000 to about 40 teachers affected by a salary freeze ultimately ruled illegal.

Ending a legal battle that began almost a decade ago, the Lancaster School District has agreed to provide $265,000 in back pay and interest to about 40 teachers affected by a salary freeze that was ultimately ruled illegal.

The lump sum payments, to be distributed within the next 30 days, will range from $1,300 to $20,000 per teacher. Beyond the $265,000 for back pay and interest, the school district spent $83,000 on legal costs.

Teachers union officials said Thursday they were pleased that the dispute, which the district appealed all the way to the California Supreme Court, is over. But faculty members also said they are angry that so much time and so many legal expenses preceded the agreement.

“We presented all kinds of information to show they were wrong,” said Mike Jones, a Park View Intermediate School teacher who chairs the grievance committee of the Teachers Assn. of Lancaster. “The route they chose to pursue, we are paying for it. It’s another classic case of irresponsible management.”

Although 40 teachers, some of whom no longer work for the district, will receive windfalls, Jones said others are worried that the settlement will give the district an excuse to plead poverty in future bargaining talks concerning raises for all instructors.

The kindergarten-through-eighth-grade district has about 12,800 pupils and about 500 teachers.

Stephen Gocke, assistant superintendent for business services, said the legal battle was actually settled last year, but that the formula for paying back teachers only recently received approval from a state panel. On Tuesday night, the district’s board of trustees unanimously allocated the funds for these payments.

Gocke said the dispute originated in the mid-1980s under administrators who are no longer with the district. He said the district had frozen some teacher salaries that previously rose with increased years of service. Affected teachers could only qualify for more pay if they obtained more education.

“Evidently, the practice was challenged and found to be discriminatory,” Gocke said. “The settlement is to pay those teachers as if they had moved up.”

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