ORANGE : Teachers OK Contract Board Expected to Nix

The 1,200 teachers of the Orange Unified School District ratified a new contract Friday, but their approval may be moot if the school board, as expected, rejects the proposal next week.

“It’s hard for me to believe that the board will accept the contract as it stands now,” school board President Maureen Aschoff said.

Teachers accepted the contract “by a substantial margin,” said David Reger, president of the Orange Unified Education Assn. He would not disclose the vote late Friday until members had been notified.

Union officials have been lobbying the seven-member school board to accept the agreement, Reger said, even though neither side is totally satisfied with the terms.

Negotiators for the teachers, who have worked for a year without a contract, failed to restore a 2.59% pay cut from the 1992-93 contract. Instead, they settled for a 2% increase in salaries for the 1995-96 year.

The district relented on the level of contributions to the teachers health benefits trust, but trustees apparently were outraged to see a clause giving benefits to half-time teachers.

On that point, some trustees said, they will fight the union. If that happens, union officials say, they may file an unfair labor practices charge with the Public Employees Relations Board.

The agreement was proposed by the district, Reger said, so trustees have no right to take it back. Union officials will not accept amendments to the agreement, he said.

“I’m hoping we can resolve this, but we refuse to renegotiate a contract that’s already been negotiated,” he said. “They would not do it for us, and we will not do it for them.”

The trustees will discuss the issue with district officials and labor attorneys in a closed session Monday, Aschoff said. The board has the option of voting on the contract at that time or taking a vote during its regular meeting Thursday.