LAUSD BOARD GIVES FINAL OK TO TEACHER PACT LEADERS SAY KIDS MAY SOON FACE TOUGHER GRAD STANDARDS.

Byline: Jennifer Radcliffe Staff Writer

Los Angeles Unified School District leaders signed off Tuesday on a new contract for teachers and gave initial support to a plan requiring students to complete a college-bound curriculum before they graduate.

The school board's unanimous vote is the final step in ratifying the 2004-06 contract giving the more than 40,000 members of United Teachers Los Angeles a 2 percent pay raise and maintaining free health care premiums.

Teachers narrowly approved the contract last week, ending more than 20 months of contentious negotiations and making a ``new day at Los Angeles Unified,'' UTLA President John Perez said.

``This contract gives us the opportunity and gives us a year to begin to work cooperatively,'' he said. ``We have a year's breathing time.''

Perez was among 70 supporters on hand for the introduction of a resolution that would require all students to complete what school officials call the ``A-G'' curriculum: 15 classes that high school graduates must successfully complete to be eligible for admission into University of California and California State University systems.

In addition to the LAUSD's current graduation requirements, the A-G standards require students to complete one more year of math and two years of a foreign language.

``We know the kids are ready. We know they're capable,'' said board member Jon Lauritzen, who co-sponsored the motion. ``We have to make the opportunity available.''

The LAUSD's curriculum committee will discuss the proposal May 12, and the school board is scheduled to vote May 24.

In other action Tuesday, LAUSD administrators recommended a three-year charter for James Jordan Middle Charter School, a college-preparatory campus slated to open in Chatsworth.

If approved next month, the middle school could open for 162 sixth- and seventh-graders as early as July 1 at 20920 Knapp St., where Los Angeles Educational Achievement Partnership, a charter school with about 80 high schoolers, opened this year.

Partnership officials said the proposed school would focus on reaching out to low-performing students, teaching the state standards and encouraging students to be physically active.

LAUSD board member Jon Azurite said he's worried that the charter would attract students away from other West Valley campuses.

``The problem is this is an area of declining enrollment,'' he said. ``I have a real problem with that.''

There are nearly 70 charter schools - free public schools that do not have to meet the same number of regulations as traditional schools - in the Los Angeles Unified Schoool District.

Jennifer Radcliffe, [phone]

jennifer.radcliffe(at)dailynews.com