UTLA POLL: ROMER LOSING SUPPORT.

Byline: Jennifer Radcliffe Staff Writer

With contract talks faltering, the Los Angeles teachers union released a poll Friday showing that Superintendent Roy Romer's approval rating had dropped from 44 to 31 percent since 2001.

Commissioned by United Teachers Los Angeles, the telephone poll of 700 registered voters in Los Angeles Unified School District also found that residents supported raises for teachers and would approve a parcel tax to pay for them.

``The district is not prioritizing its budget to where it should be,'' UTLA President John Perez said. ``The people want the schools to be the focus.''

With LAUSD poised to make some tough financial decisions, the UTLA is turning up the heat to get pay raises for its members.

Union leaders maintain that LAUSD has failed to provide them with the budget figures they need to negotiate a new contract. Because of that, they walked out of a budget hearing with Romer last month and filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the Public Employment Relations Board in October.

``I think they're just stonewalling us,'' Perez said, adding that the district failed to deliver budget answers it promised by Nov. 30.

Romer was unavailable to comment Friday, but LAUSD spokeswoman Stephanie Brady questioned the results of the poll and the union's claims against the district.

``It would seem odd that the approval ratings for the superintendent would decline over the last three years when academic scores have vastly approved, new schools are being built at an extraordinary rate and fewer students are being bused away form their neighborhoods,'' she said.

More than 40 percent of those polled approved of the job Romer is doing building new schools, and 33 percent said he's improved student achievement, according to the poll, which was conducted by the David Binder Corp. It has a 3 percent margin of error.

Brady said district has provided the union a plethora of budget figures.

``They have responded to most of the questions,'' she said. ``More are being sent to them next week. Some of this takes time.''

Romer has repeatedly insisted that the district doesn't have money for employee pay raises. It would cost about $30 million to provide a 1 percent raise for UTLA members.

The district will meet Tuesday to discuss a looming Dec. 15 deadline for developing a plan to cut $110 million from its budget or face a lower financial rating by the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

But both the union and board members question the legitimacy of the $110 million shortfall projected for fiscal 2005-06.

``It's very difficult to get reliable numbers on our budget,'' board President Jose Huizar said. ``We're all in the same boat. We got to get though this problem together. We need to improve our contract resolutions.''

Huizar said he would push next week to close contract negotiations.

Teachers, administrators and politicians need to work together to improve an image that has 53 percent of people polled by UTLA saying that the district does a poor job of educating students, Huizar said.

``I'm not satisfied with the perception that the public has of the district,'' he said. ``The district has a long way to go to build the confidence of the public.''

Ed Burke, chief of staff for board member Jon Lauritzen, said their office has some of the same questions as the union.

``Right now, we're a little disappointed that the answers have not been coming out,'' he said.

The way to be united and keep morale up is to give teachers raises, Burke said.

``The employees deserve something,'' he said. ``It may not be much, but at least it's something.''

Jennifer Radcliffe, [phone]

jennifer.radcliffe(at)dailynews.com