L.A. Teachers Vote 4-1 for Tentative Contract

Los Angeles schoolteachers have overwhelmingly ratified a tentative three-year contract calling for pay and benefit increases averaging more than 15%, union officials reported Thursday.

More than 30,000 teachers cast ballots Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, favoring the contract by a 4-1 margin, union officials said.

To take effect, the contract still must be approved by a majority of the Board of Education, which is scheduled to consider it Feb. 27. Four of the seven board members have indicated they will vote for it. Three board members said they oppose it because the pay increases will drain funds from priority programs.

The board on Tuesday instructed Supt. Roy Romer to take no money from priorities such as instruction, teacher training, textbook purchases and school maintenance to fund the contract.

The pay package, which would be retroactive to July 1, provides raises averaging 11.5%, and includes another 2% to make last year’s one-time bonus permanent and 1.8% to maintain current health benefits.

The highest raises would be for teachers on the lower end of the pay scale, who often leave the district after they obtain credentials, said United Teachers-Los Angeles President Day Higuchi.

“There will be much more of an incentive for those teachers to stay in the district rather than say, ‘Thank you very much, I got my credential,’ and go someplace where the pay is better,” Higuchi said. Veteran teachers who absorbed salary cuts in the 1990s would receive the next highest increases, Higuchi said.