Board Would Tie Raises to School Gains

The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday rejected school employees’ request to begin talks on a pay increase, voting instead to come back with its own proposal that would tie any raise to accountability measures.

During a five-hour closed session, the board instructed Supt. Ruben Zacarias to prepare an opening proposal by the Oct. 27 board meeting.

The proposal would hold all employees to the same seven indicators of student achievement currently being used to gauge whether senior staff receive a 6% raise. Employees would get only half of any agreed-upon raise if the district failed to show improvement on at least four of the seven indicators--including third-grade literacy and the dropout rate.

The unions would also be required to agree not to strike if the current contract is reopened.

Zacarias has appointed a panel of experts to recommend accountability measures, but their reports are not yet complete.

Lacking an accountability plan, the board added on several broad-stroke measures such as strengthening teacher hiring and quality, intervention in low-performing schools and enhancing reading instruction and curriculum.

Board President Victoria Castro and board member Julie Korenstein dissented.

Castro said she found no meat in the district’s demands and would have preferred to open negotiations on a well-thought-out accountability plan based on measures such as test scores.

The district’s seven bargaining units have joined in asking for a 4% raise on top of the 2% they received in the second year of their three-year contract.

The unions asked for the raise after discretionary revenues from the state exceeded expectations by about $60 million.

Union leaders contend that employees still have not been adequately compensated for 10% pay cuts they took during the recession in the early 1990s.

Zacarias opposed the raise, offering the board a wish list of $54 million in new school services such as tutoring and library books.