IRVINE : Teachers Approve New 3-Year Contract

Teachers here have overwhelmingly approved a new three-year contract with the Irvine Unified School District that calls for a 6% pay raise, clearing the way for the school board to ratify the agreement.

Approval by the teachers on Monday came after several months of hard-fought negotiations. Talks began last spring but were suspended for the summer, leading some teachers to complain and threaten the district with a strike.

Monday, however, officials from the school district and Irvine Teachers Assn., the union representing district teachers, said they supported the contract.

“We think it’s a good deal,” said Barbara Dresel, president of the association. Sue Long, assistant superintendent for personnel at the district, also enthusiastically backed the proposal.

Teachers agreed. Of 523 votes tallied by Monday afternoon, 490 favored the contract, leaving only 33 opposed, Dresel said. About 950 of the district’s 1,000 teachers are eligible to vote, so the 490 votes put the contract over the top.

Association officials will transmit results of the election to the school district today. The school board is expected to approve the contract tonight.

If the board ratifies the agreement, the three-year contract will be retroactive to July. The 6% pay increase means that Irvine teachers would receive a starting salary of about $21,000 a year. Salaries vary based on a teacher’s experience and academic degrees, topping out at about $53,000 a year, which district officials refer to as “supermax.”

Those salaries are about average for Orange County school districts, officials said.

Under the contract, teachers would also get agreements limiting their after-school supervision responsibilities and a pledge by the district to include them in district planning.