Teachers Seek 6% Pay Hike; District Says No

The teachers union on Tuesday formally asked the Los Angeles Unified School District for raises averaging about 6%. But the cash-strapped school system, which wants teachers to give up at least two days in paid vacation or preparation time, said no salary hikes are possible.

Those public positions mark the beginning of what promise to be difficult negotiations ahead, made more uncertain by the continuing lack of a state budget.

“Let’s pay our employees working with the children the top salaries in the county,” Sam Kresner, executive assistant to the president of United Teachers-Los Angeles, said after he presented the 40,000-member union’s proposal to the school board. “That means pay raises this year when other districts are not giving pay raises. We can do it.”

Kresner conceded that the budget situation is tough, but he said the district should reexamine its spending on administration and consultants.

In addition, the union is pushing to maintain health and welfare benefits at their current levels and to make class-size reduction one of the district’s top priorities for the next year.

A credentialed L.A. Unified teacher with five years of experience earns on average $45,359, according to the union. A study last year by the Los Angeles County Office of Education found that the top quartile of pay for similar teachers around the county was at least $48,576.

The union said it wants to reach that level with a 7% average raise, and obtain raises of 3% to 8% for teachers with various experience levels. Some veteran teachers with advanced degrees earn more than $70,000 a year.

In an interview Tuesday, Supt. Roy Romer said that he hoped teacher pay could be increased in the future, but that it couldn’t happen this year given the state’s budget crisis. “I don’t see any teacher raises in the offing,” he said.

The district, Romer said, wants to avoid layoffs, “and to do that, we have had to make massive cuts.”

Every percentage point rise in teacher salaries would cost the district $28 million, and a 6% hike would cost $168 million, according to the district.

The district has already trimmed $370 million from its $6-billion, 2003-04 budget, including $35 million that officials estimated would be saved by furloughing most of the district’s 80,000 employees for 2 1/2 days. The furloughs must be negotiated with the teachers union, which has said it opposes them.

In addition, the district has not fully funded benefits for some of its employees, including teachers. Those benefits also are being negotiated.