Teachers Union OKs Pact, 3% Raise : Schools: L.A. educators give resounding approval to three-year contract after vastly improved offer made.

The state’s largest local teachers union overwhelmingly approved its best contract in four years Saturday, ensuring 31,000 Los Angeles Unified School District teachers a 3% raise and three years of salary stability.

With only a handful of questionable ballots left to be counted, the tally of votes cast at campuses over the previous three days was nearly 19,000 for the contract offer and fewer than 1,100 against it.

“It was beyond overwhelming,” said United Teachers-Los Angeles President Helen Bernstein. “You just figure that 20% of the folks are going to say no, no matter what. But they didn’t.”

Although Bernstein described her membership as “relieved, not elated,” the contract’s provisions for restoring pay to pre-austerity 1991 levels were a welcome reprieve from the specter of a 4% pay cut earlier this year, when state budget forecasts were grimmer. Following a district announcement of that possibility, teachers voted to strike as of next week if they had not accepted a contract by then.

The vastly improved final offer has been attributed not only to shrewd union negotiators and district administrators concerned about staff morale in the face of a breakup threat, but also to a district budget pumped up by a governor making a bid for President.

The contract, which must receive final approval by the Board of Education, commits the district to maintaining the new pay levels--ranging from $29,500 for entry-level teachers to $54,700 for 25-year veterans--through the 1997-98 school year if state revenues remain stable, and to providing additional raises if possible.

Other school bargaining units, which represent everyone from janitors to administrators, are considering nearly identical offers.

Bernstein said financial security was a significant factor in both the high number of yes votes and the large turnout among teachers. Although for many veteran teachers it represents only a pay restoration, not a raise, for at least 8,000 newcomers it is a straightforward increase. And another 4,000 teachers who have been with the district for 25 years and hold a master’s degree are to receive a $1,020 boost under the contract.

In addition, teachers were pleased to learn that the final offer did not include some controversial non-monetary measures sought in the district’s preliminary proposal, including the possibilities of forced teacher transfers and larger class sizes.