BOARD TO CONSIDER 3% LAUSD RAISES.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

Nearly 3,000 school principals, district administrators and clerks in Los Angeles Unified would get 3 percent pay raises totaling $10.8 million in a proposal going before the board today.

The proposal for the hike comes after the district made $450 million in cuts to balance its 2002-03 budget by increasing class sizes, cutting programs for remedial students and making other reductions.

The pay raise - retroactive to July 1 - mirrors a 3 percent increase given to teachers, and covers 2,000 principals and assistant principals, 200 administrators at district headquarters and more than 800 clerks, analysts and other staffers.

``We want to stay competitive at the same time as being frugal,'' school board President Caprice Young said Monday. ``As much as it's a very difficult year, we have to take care of our people.

``Our people did a great job last year - our test scores grew twice the rate of the state. We had growth that has been heralded across the board.''

The administrators union didn't get a raise last year, but had an average 10.5 percent increase for the 2000-01 school year, officials said.

``We're glad that it's finished,'' said Mona Kantor, a spokeswoman for the 2,200-member Associated Administrators Los Angeles, which represents mostly principals and other campus leaders.

Officials of the Los Angeles Unified School District said they were pleased at being able to extend the pay hike negotiated with the union to 800 other nonunion administrators and workers.

``In general, you should treat your district-represented people comparably ... (as) if they're represented in a union - it's only appropriate,'' said Tom Killeen, administrator of personnel services and research.

The hike does not cover the district's top 111 contract employees - superintendents and division chiefs whose pay raises will be determined after other labor negotiations come to a close.

Earlier this year, the Daily News reported that top administrators' pay has leaped in recent years, with four officials now making more than $200,000.

The pay raises going before the board today cover principals and assistant principals, whose pay ranges from $84,299 for an elementary school principal on a traditional calendar to $115,258 for a handful of high school principals at the biggest campuses on year-round calendars.

It also includes raises for nonunion district staffers including secretaries, analysts, instructional employees and district lawyers making up to $118,000 a year.

Young said the pay raise is in essence a cost-of-living adjustment.

The AALA spokeswoman said preserving health benefits was key this year for the union.

District CFO Joseph Zeronian said the pay raise would be covered by funds carried over from last year's budget, but that the district still faces potential budget difficulties.

CAPTION(S):

box

Box:

PROPOSED SALARY HIKE

SOURCE: Los Angeles Unified School District