WESTSIDE, TEACHERS IN ACCORD YEAR'S IMPASSE BROKEN; 4 PERCENT RAISE OK'D.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - After spending more than a year deadlocked in contract talks, Westside Union School District and its teachers union have reached an agreement that will give teachers a 4 percent raise this year.

Teachers ratified the proposal, voting 197 to 34 in favor of the pact, and the board is scheduled to approve the contract at a meeting next week.

``It's been awhile. We are pleased this came together,'' Superintendent Regina Rossall said.

The tentative agreement was reached before Thanksgiving, and teachers' voting on the contract ended Thursday, officials said. The district employs about 380 teachers.

Teachers union officials could not be reached Friday for comment.

When an impasse in negotiations was declared in October 2004, the district said at the time it could not afford to give teachers a raise or increase what it paid for employee benefits.

But since then, the district's financial situation has changed, buoyed largely by increased enrollment, Rossall said.

``Our financial picture improved.'' Rossall said. ``We have 600 more kids in our budget for '05-'06. That's a few million dollars (from the state in per-student fees).''

The contract covers the 2004-05 and 2005-06 school years, but the raise applies only to the second year. The pay hike is retroactive to July 1, Rossall said.

The district offered each of its three groups of employees - teachers, nonteaching (classified) staff and management - a 4.5 percent pay hike plus $13,000 as the maximum amount paid by the district in employer contributions toward health benefits.

Classified staff and management took the offer, but the teachers accepted a modified version, a 4 percent raise and a cap on benefits of more than $13,500, Rossall said.

The $13,500 cap will fully pay for one medical plan that's being offered. Teachers would have to pay more themselves if they want a more expensive plan, Rossall said.

Meanwhile, Palmdale School District is still without a contract with its teachers. In a first for the Palmdale district, contract talks have advanced to the fact-finding stage, which could lead to trustees unilaterally imposing a contract on teachers.

A state mediator sent the negotiations to the next stage in July after he met with district representatives and union officials and found both sides still far apart on health benefits.

In June, Palmdale teachers overwhelmingly voted to reject a proposed contract that offered no raise and opened the possibility that they would have to pay part of their health insurance premiums in 2007-08.

In the Antelope Valley Union High School District, the board at Wednesday's meeting approved a contract that will give teachers a 3 percent raise for the 2005-06 school year and fully paid benefits.

``We think it was a fair offer,'' Assistant Superintendent Tim Azevedo said. ``We came to a good agreement and the process was real positive. Both negotiating teams worked hard and it was productive.''

The contract also calls for reducing class sizes by one student, so math teachers will have up to 32 students in their classes, instead of 33, and English instructor 33, instead of 34, Azevedo said.

In addition, to save money and to serve as an incentive to teachers to become fully credentialed, the district will require non-fully credentialed instructors to sign up for a Kaiser health benefits plan or pay the difference to enroll in a higher-cost plan, Azevedo said.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com