Teachers Voting on New 3-Year Contract

Members of the Moorpark teachers union are meeting today to vote on a three-year contract worked out with the district. The contract includes across-the-board raises for the district’s more than 250 teachers in each of the next three years, said Rob Dearborn, president of the Moorpark Educators Assn.

“Things are going real well in the district. . . . We’ve been recognized for excellence by the state and county, and I think the board wanted to reward the teachers for that,” Dearborn said.

The contract was worked out over 1 1/2 days of negotiating between officials from the union and the school board. It was a sharp contrast to past years’ negotiations, board member Greg Barker said.

In the past, the two sides clashed and reached a bitter public impasse during contract talks and a state mediator at one point had to be brought in.

“I think it worked this time because for the first time in four years, we’re not going to have our state money cut,” Barker said. “We wanted to give them a raise then, and they deserved it, but we just didn’t have the money. This year, we have the money.”

The raises will be about 3.75% in the first year and between 3% and 4% the following two years. Salaries will range from about $27,000 to $50,000 for the most veteran teachers.

Although salaries for teachers in Moorpark will be slightly lower than counterparts in the Conejo Valley Unified School District, officials said, the Moorpark contract has better health benefits and guarantees smaller class sizes.