District, Teachers Tentatively OK Pact

The Los Angeles Unified School District and its teachers union tentatively agreed Friday to give teachers a 10% raise over the next three years--the first true salary increase in seven years, made possible by an improving California economy and an increased state budget focus on education.

The agreement--expected to be ratified by the teachers union members during the coming month--promises for the first time that teachers will be held accountable for their performance, following a national movement that has yet to graze the district.

However, details of that performance pact will not be sorted out for up to a year. Nor is the issue of performance attached to future raises in any way, causing some to question the clause’s worth.

“I do not want some mishy-mashy stuff,” said board member Barbara Boudreaux. “If our students are not performing at a higher level, that means our staff are not adequately performing.”

The raise, announced at a news conference just hours before United Teachers-Los Angeles began its annual conference in Palm Springs, brought broad smiles to the faces of union leaders, school board members and administrators alike. It follows a national trend this year to give teachers some of the spoils of a post-recession economy.

All parties said they hoped that the tentative agreement would result in improved student test scores by lifting the morale of teachers and helping attract qualified instructors to the district.

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“This marks a turning point for us,” said UTLA President Day Higuchi, praising the district for agreeing to renegotiate a three-year contract that would have continued this year and provided only a 2.4% raise.

Although the proposed agreement only applies to teachers at present, the district has historically offered similar settlements to the seven other unions representing school workers.

Waves of cutbacks hit the district beginning in 1991, and the school board cut wages. Salaries were not restored to the 1991 levels until two years ago. Last year’s 2% pay increase was a one-time bonus.

This year’s increase includes a 3% ongoing raise and a 3% bonus, which will be added permanently to salaries next year, along with at least a 2% bonus. In the third year, that 2% would become permanent and a 2% one-year bonus would be added.

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That means an entry-level teacher would make $33,000 this year, while at the top of the scale, experienced teachers would make $57,000.

Friday’s proposed contract agreement also calls for:

* Phasing out a $2,500 stipend that has been provided to about 4,000 teachers who completed a cultural awareness certificate that now is required of all California credential candidates.

* Using $5 million to reward experienced teachers, although specifics will be subject to ongoing negotiations.

In addition, district teachers who pass a rigorous national test, known as National Board Certification, would be eligible for up to 15% extra in salary, though they would have to work extra days to get part of that money.

The certification program grew out of a national movement to strengthen the teaching profession and is ultimately to provide certificates in 30 areas of teaching specialization. That effort has caught the interest of President Clinton, who wants to provide federal incentives for teachers to take the $2,000 test.

Independently, most states have created some kind of support for interested teachers, ranging from providing paid time off to salary bonuses, though so far California is not among them.

More than 600 teachers have earned the certification nationally, including at least 70 in California. For the coming year, offering the incentive will be relatively inexpensive for the district because only one teacher holds the certificate.

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Myra LeBendig, an English teacher at Foshay Learning Center south of downtown, said she sought the honor in 1992 partly out of self-defense: She had recently moved to California from Louisiana and had to go back to school to meet credential requirements here.

“I felt if this was national, I want to do it,” she said. “I was not going through that again.”

But she also considered it an opportunity to prove to herself, her friends and the world at large that teaching is a professional occupation.

The test stretched out for more than a year, requiring her to evaluate her students’ work over an extended period, videotape a class discussion and participate in weekend-long oral examinations in San Diego. Although LeBendig was able to go through the process for free--as part of a pilot program for the language arts test--she said in retrospect that it would have been worth doing even at full cost.

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The thorniest remaining contract issue is how to evaluate teacher performance in order to reward those excelling and punish those who are not.

It is not a new idea. As student test scores have languished in urban districts, public pressure has increased to hold teachers responsible for what ails the public education system.

The more progressive teacher unions have responded by trying to institute peer review systems, a plan UTLA President Higuchi embraced when he took office a year ago. Now, a majority of Los Angeles Board of Education members also endorse efforts to measure teachers’ worth.

But how to go about it remains a matter of dispute.

“Children’s learning is an incredibly complex process,” said board member Jeff Horton. “Assigning blame for when it happens and when it doesn’t is not easy.”