Union Finds Teacher Pay Offer Faulty

Teachers union officials said Thursday that a seemingly generous offer from the Orange Unified School District to raise salaries has serious pitfalls for their more experienced teachers.

A raise offered in closed-door negotiations by district administrators this week would give some teachers a 30% increase over the next three years.

But the offer only applies to teachers who are not eligible for lifetime retiree benefits. The bulk of teachers in the district are being offered a raise of about 4.5% over three years, unless they opt out of the retiree benefits plan, union officials said.

“Most of the teachers--804 of them--are still getting the shaft,” said David Reger, president of the 1,200-member teachers union.

Negotiations became more urgent than usual this summer when a state program to cut class sizes in elementary schools brought on a sudden teacher shortage.

To cope with the situation, district officials drafted a two-tiered salary offer to attract young teachers and, at the same time, resolve a looming deficit in the teachers’ retiree benefits account.

Over the past years, consultants have predicted that the unfunded liability for these retirees could reach $400 million over the coming decades. The lifetime benefits were cut off in 1992 and teachers hired since then are offered benefit packages that are about average for the county.

The district’s salary offer would bring that liability down to under $100 million, said Supt. Robert L. French.

But union officials contend that other factors have kept salaries low and that the deficit can be made up slowly.