Negotiators Agree on Teachers Pact

Negotiators for the Los Angeles Unified School District and its teachers union reached a verbal agreement late Monday on a new contract that is expected to avert a threatened strike.

Both sides expressed satisfaction with the new agreement that will cover 43,000 teachers, librarians, nurses and counselors. Negotiators declined to release details but were scheduled to brief their respective leaders at meetings today.

“We have taken a big first step toward saving public education in Los Angeles,” Day Higuchi, president of United Teachers-Los Angeles, said after the marathon bargaining session Monday. “This agreement makes LAUSD schools a much better place to teach and learn.”

Union leaders and district officials had been negotiating intensively for the last few months. They were trying to hammer out compromises on a pay raise and new authority for principals to assign teachers to classes.

Supt. Roy Romer, who took part in the negotiations, said he was pleased with the result.

“This agreement strikes a great balance between economics and the equity issues,” he said Monday night, referring to the school district’s demand that the union relinquish some authority over teacher assignments.