DISTRICT TEACHERS APPROVE CONTRACT PALMDALE OUTCOME COULD SWAY UNION.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

PALMDALE - A majority of Palmdale School District teachers have approved a tentative contract agreement, signaling the union to abandon its efforts to fight teacher layoffs and larger class sizes in the lower grades.

A total of 464 teachers, or nearly 60 percent of the 789 teachers who cast votes, approved the pact, which authorizes class sizes of up to 30 pupils.

``That means we basically lost 83 teaching jobs because of the elimination of class-size reduction,'' said Ken May, president of the 1,200- member Palmdale Elementary Teachers Association.

Teachers cast votes during a two-week period ending Friday. The agreement covers the 2001-02 school year, during which teachers worked without a new contract. It contains no pay raise.

Union leaders had said teachers were split over Palmdale school officials' plan to enlarge classes to save money and that the contract vote would help determine whether the union should pursue its complaint lodged with the state labor board to block bigger classes.

In an effort to slash $6.1 million from its budget, the Palmdale school board in February voted 3-1 to switch from a year-round calendar to a traditional schedule and increase class sizes in kindergarten through third grade from the current maximum of 20 students.

The district ended up laying off 83 teachers. The layoffs were the first for the district in at least 30 years, district officials said. The contract allows for laid-off teachers to continue receiving health benefits for two months through August, said Roger Gallizzi, director of personnel.

``We are very pleased naturally (with the teachers' vote). It allows the district to do what it needs to do to remain financially solvent,'' Gallizzi said.

The proposed contract, which now must be ratified by the board, calls for a ``soft'' cap of 30 students in each classroom in all grades. The soft cap means there is no absolute ban on any classroom having more than 30 pupils, but teachers would be compensated $5 a day for each student over the limit.

Currently student-to-teacher ratios in grades four through eight is 29.5-to-one, and at the intermediate schools, 27.5-to-one. Kindergarten through third-grade classes were capped at 20-to-one under a state class-size reduction program.

If the teachers had voted down the pact, and the union pursued its unfair labor practices complaint through the Public Employment Relations Board, it would have taken three months to six months for a judge to issue a ruling, union officials said.

The agreement also addresses the issue of teacher transfers, stating that involuntary transfers and reassignments can occur only when student enrollment changes or because of confidential personnel matters, union officials said.

``We got decent language out of it for transfers. In the past, they could take us out of an assignment and reassign or transfer us to a different school. They did that frequently. Now they won't be able to do that anymore,'' May said.

Gallizzi said, ``the teachers deserve good transfer language. It was something the administration could live with.''

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com