This Teachers' Contract Works for All.

THE recently negotiated agreement between the L.A. Unified School District and United Teachers Los Angeles is the best news from the troubled district in years. The contract -- which 43,000 teachers, nurses, librarians and counselors will ratify or reject in mid-February -- provides competitive salaries to address LAUSD's critical teacher shortage and creates better conditions for teaching and learning. This is a win-win solution for labor and management, but the biggest winners will be the students we serve.

The naysayers question whether LAUSD can afford this raise. I don't see how the District can afford not to pay teachers competitive salaries, and the public agrees. A January poll by USA Today and CNN revealed that 84 percent of Americans believe better pay for teachers is the best way to improve public schools.

The School Board never pinches pennies when lavishing 30 and 40 percent raises on top bureaucrats. It's about time they invested in the professionals who work directly with students. The District is finally taking action to reverse the exodus to better-paying local school districts just as the shortage of fully qualified teachers is about to reach critical levels. In fact, more than 40 percent of LAUSD teachers are 50 years and older, and thousands of LAUSD veterans are preparing to retire.

Can management pay teachers more without cutting into essentials? Of course. Even the District's own budget wizard, Joe Zeronian, says they have the money. The raises won't cut into the book budget. Nearly $80 million allotted for books last year was carried over to this year's budget in a line item now nearing $130 million. Meanwhile, funds for building new schools are provided by a completely different source, the State Allocations Board.

To suggest budget catastrophe is to cry wolf! State law will not allow a settlement that a school district cannot fund, and not only is the raise funded, it is funded by state monies that must continue by state law.

This contract won't solve all the problems at LAUSD, but it is a big first step toward making the District a better place for teachers to teach and students to learn. Landmark provisions create the possibility for improved labor-management cooperation and harmony in the future. Don't we all want a union-district partnership to improve student achievement?

Besides reversing the exodus of experienced teachers, this contract creates a Classroom Bill of Rights to speedily end shortages of books and supplies, minimize fiscal waste, clean dirty schools and classrooms, focus school staff meetings on teachers working together to improve their teaching, and improve safety and discipline. And the contract assures students in each "track" of year-round schools an equal opportunity to have an experienced, fully credentialed teacher.

What's next? Once teachers ratify this agreement, the School Board should warmly embrace the contract, then work with UTLA as partners to improve student performance. After all, UTLA has brought more Nationally Board Certified teachers to LAUSD than any other district in the nation, and is cultivating good teaching through peer review and assistance. UTLA is calling on parents and the community to join teachers in stopping "business as usual" at LAUSD.

Day Higuchi is president of United Teachers Los Angeles.