SOME IRKED BY BONUS SPLIT FOR TEACHERS SENIORITY PAYS UNDER PLAN.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Staff Writer

Los Angeles public school teachers and principals will get more than $6 million in state bonuses next month, but many are upset because, under a plan that rewards seniority, they're getting less than they were promised.

The state Department of Education is rewarding faculties of 20 low-performing schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, including seven schools in the San Fernando Valley, where students showed dramatic improvements in their standardized test scores.

Many teachers and principals say they should have been eligible for $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000 each depending on how much the test scores improved, not on seniority.

But LAUSD officials said Tuesday that, because union officials failed to negotiate a local plan, the money will be disbursed according to a state default plan tied to employees' base salaries.

That means some teachers will get bonuses of thousands of dollars more than colleagues on the same campus.

``To me, it hurts the idea of harmony on the campus. We try to create a family feeling here that we're all in this together,'' said Canoga Park High School Principal Dennis Thompson. ``There's a real danger for morale problems.''

The teachers union president, Day Higuchi, said he stands by his decision to let the default plan stand. ``Our policy is that a system that pays cash awards to people at schools on the basis of a single test result is a system that we cannot support. We simply don't believe it can ever be made fair,'' he said.

If the union had negotiated to get all teachers the same amount in bonuses, he said senior teachers would have complained that their experience was going unrewarded.

Higuchi maintains that the union believes in merit-based pay when tied to comprehensive assessments of a teacher's performance. He said the union negotiated a 15 percent salary bonus for teachers who gain national board certification. But he said the state's incentive program only succeeds in creating division among the teachers.

The union's position isn't popular among all.

``Teachers are upset, but particularly ones who are getting significantly less than other folks at the same school,'' said Wayne Johnson, president of the California Teachers Association and an LAUSD teacher who's on leave.

``I've talked to teachers in other parts of the state where they negotiated a different plan, and teachers were still upset there. You sort of can't win,'' he said, adding that Higuchi shouldn't be blamed.

State officials who were involved in drafting the law say they intentionally reserved a chance for local unions and boards to decide what's best within their jurisdiction.

But now principals at the individual schools are left to soothe the tension on their campuses. Mountain View Elementary School Principal Ronald Jones notes that the state law clearly states that the disbursement could be based on seniority.

``The schools were designated $5,000 or $10,000 or $25,000 per person, and in the minds of the teachers that's what they would each get,'' said Jones.