Is Contract Ready for Vote? Orange Teachers to Decide

The union representing teachers in the Orange Unified School District says it will let them decide whether to vote on the district’s final salary offer or send it back to mediation.

The Orange Unified Education Association distributed ballots Friday to its 1,500 members, asking them to say whether they want more information about the district’s salary proposal or whether they are ready to vote. Orange Unified’s offer provides substantial raises for some veteran teachers and slight raises for beginning teachers.

By putting the choice in the teachers’ hands, the union negotiating team keeps at arm’s length a salary proposal that still raises questions about the cost of teachers’ health benefits, said Paul Pruss, union vice president.

Normally, a union and school district reach a tentative agreementon a salary proposal before letting the teachers vote on the final contract. Under this agreement, both sides essentially accept the proposal. But the Orange Unified union has chosen not to sanction the district’s offer and let the teachers decide instead.

The ballots are due Sept. 5.

“When you have a referendum [vote], it releases you from some restrictions you would be under in a tentative agreement,” Pruss said. “It gives you some leeway to get some things offered.”

For the past nine months, the two sides have wrangled over salary details and health benefit costs during heated negotiations and five sessions with a state-appointed mediator. If the teachers decide not to vote on the proposal, it will return to mediation, Pruss said.

The district’s offer raises teacher pay across the board and increases the top teacher salary to $68,500, up nearly $12,000 from last year.

There are still questions about the cost of teachers’ health care. The union says the district’s proposal increases health costs, but the district disagrees. Orange Unified spokeswoman Judy Frutig said the district absorbed an 11% increase in health care costs without passing it along to teachers.