Citing Cost, District Nixes Teachers’ Contract Proposal

The division between Orange Unified School District teachers and the school board continued to widen Tuesday after the board unanimously rejected a teachers’ contract proposal that trustees said could bankrupt the district in less than a year.

“This is bad-faith bargaining at its worst,” said James Bowles, the district’s labor law attorney. “The proposal is not serious and not realistic.”

According to a district cost breakdown of the proposal, the district would have to pay $21.6 million over the next two years, which would put the district $9 million in the red.

The proposal included a 2% raise retroactive to the 1998-99 school year and up to a 28% raise for 1999-2000 school year, with an additional $10,000 a year for teachers who have worked 18 years or more.

John Rossmann, president of the Orange Unified Education Assn., said the board doesn’t have the option of rejecting the proposal because state law requires the district to receive it.

“We hope [the trustees] would reconsider their actions,” Rossmann said. “We don’t want to file an unfair labor practice. Sooner or later, you should be able to sit down and negotiate in good faith.”

Rossmann said the cost of the proposal is affordable for the district, which had an $18.1-million fund balance at the end of the fiscal year.

Judy Frutig, director of communications for the district, said that $7 million of the funds carried over to the current school year is designated for other specific programs and cannot be used for teacher salaries.

“When [Rossmann] says $18 million, he’s not paying any attention to the fact that there are other components,” she said. “Only $11 million is unrestricted.”

Along with rejecting the contract, the school board agreed to file another unfair-labor-practice charge against the teachers union with the Public Employment Relations Board over what it considers “regressive bargaining,” because the proposal asks for more than the original tentative agreement.

Two other charges were filed by the district during the summer. One accuses the teachers union of failing to support a negotiated settlement made in May; the other alleges that Rossmann made false charges and threats against district officials.

The hearings are scheduled to take place Jan. 18 and 19.

The district and the teachers union, whose members are upset that they are being paid below the county median, have been battling over a contract for two years.

Rossmann said the teachers are simply looking for dignity.

“Our teachers keep this district near the top of the standardized test scores all the time,” he said. “We are in the classroom keeping the district at the top, yet we are paid at the bottom, and that is humiliating.”

Marissa Espino may be reached at (714) 966-6879.