Teachers Union Urges Members to OK 2% Bonus

The governing board of the Los Angeles teachers union voted late Wednesday to recommend that members adopt a contract agreement providing a 2% salary bonus and a minimal accountability plan affecting the small number of teachers who have received unsatisfactory evaluations.

The proposal, worked out late last week by negotiators for the union and the Los Angeles Unified School District, could end months of labor unrest touched off late last year by the teachers’ demand for a new raise midway through a three-year contract.

But the agreement contains less than either side wanted: only half the 4% raise demanded by teachers and no accountability measures for the vast majority of teachers, as Supt. Ruben Zacarias had wanted.

Zacarias said Wednesday that he opposes the agreement because he believes any salary increase should be linked to improved student achievement.

The vote of United Teachers-Los Angeles’ governing board is a recommendation to the union’s nearly 40,000 members who will be polled by mail next month, said UTLA spokesman Steve Blazak.

The Board of Education, which has already signaled its intention to grant district employees a raise, is expected to receive the proposal Tuesday and could vote on it immediately after union ratification, said Andy Cazares, assistant superintendent for staff relations.

District staff is scheduling bargaining sessions with the eight unions representing the district’s about 30,000 nonteaching employees. Traditionally, those unions receive the same pay adjustment as UTLA, but each would have to negotiate an accountability plan.

A 2% raise would cost about $54 million.

The salary dispute was touched off last fall when the district learned that it would receive about $70 million more than expected in state funding.

UTLA’s demand for a 4% raise, on top of the 10% in the current contract, precipitated a tug-of-war with Zacarias, who pressed the school board to spend the money on new programs rather than salaries.

Eventually, the board approved most of the $64 million in new programs that Zacarias recommended but also voted to reopen the union contracts.

Though the new money had been spent, accountants identified about $30 million in the district budget--mostly in a maintenance and repair fund--that could be converted to salaries, enough for a raise of about 1%. The remainder is expected to come from budgeted funds that are expected to remain unspent at the end of the fiscal year in July.

In exchange for any raise, Zacarias hoped to win concessions on accountability. The teachers said they did not want individuals judged by the district’s performance.

Teachers also rejected a proposal to deny pay raises to those receiving unsatisfactory evaluations. Although only 140 unsatisfactory notices were issued last year, most to first- or second-year teachers, UTLA President Day Higuchi said the membership would not accept linking pay to a process that could be used arbitrarily by principals.

The tentative pact only partly settles the accountability issue, setting up a new round of negotiations to determine how to help low-performing teachers improve and how to discipline those who don’t.

It would bar teachers who receive below-standard evaluations from such perks voluntary transfers, mentoring, teaching summer sessions and taking leaves.