District to Appeal Ban on Pay Cuts : Education: Schools will be forced to pay extra $20 million a month in teachers’ salaries if courts do not reverse action, and could do so only briefly, Quezada says.

The Los Angeles school board announced Tuesday that it will appeal a court ruling that has temporarily halted deep cuts in teachers’ pay and threatens to send the district into bankruptcy.

School board President Leticia Quezada said that if the district does not receive quick court relief from the order, the district would be forced to pay about $20 million a month in additional salary to teachers, and could only afford to do so for a few months.

“The longer we delay appealing, the more at risk we put the district,” Quezada said. “The ramifications of this are unthinkable. We have to prevent that from happening.”

Attorneys for the school district expect to file the appeal with the state appellate court Thursday or Friday. They will ask the panel to either take up the case and rule on the matter or grant the district an immediate reprieve from an order to issue supplemental checks to about 28,000 teachers until the lower court decides the matter Nov. 25.

District officials said they will appeal the case until all legal options are exhausted. State Department of Education officials said Tuesday that they will support the district’s appeals.

Paychecks issued to teachers last Friday reflected a cumulative 12% cut. Under the temporary restraining order issued the day before, the district has until Nov. 24 to pay teachers back. 25.

Union officials were not optimistic that their request would be granted and viewed it as a long-shot move to show their membership that they were doing everything legally possible to forestall the cuts.

The ruling by Judge Stephen E. O’Neil in favor of the union has sent shock waves through the union and district alike because of its ominous ramifications for the school district.

To cover a $400-million budget shortfall, the district imposed across-the-board pay cuts on all employees. For teachers, the reductions mean they are earning 12% less than what they earned two years ago.

Quezada lashed out against the union move.

“Frankly, this is the result of a collective bargaining unit that is refusing to deal with the harsh economic realities of the district,” she said.

Union President Helen Bernstein said she fully anticipated that the district would appeal the action and was surprised that it took board members seven hours behind closed doors to decide, time that could have been spent at the bargaining table.

Officials said it would cost the district $180 million this fiscal year to restore teachers’ salaries. To dramatize the gravity of the cutbacks that would be necessary to repay teachers, Supt. Sid Thompson said 4,500 teachers would have to be laid off and class size increased by 20--actions that the district is not seriously considering because they would severely degrade the quality of education.

If the order stands, the likely result would be insolvency. Under state law, the County Department of Education has the authority to intervene when a district is in financial trouble by either conducting a financial review or taking over budget decisions.

County officials said Tuesday that they are closely watching the outcome of the case. They have asked the district to submit a report on what the financial impact would be if pay cuts are not restored.

The union will fight in court to avert pay cuts, even if leads the district toward bankruptcy, Bernstein said. Although she said the union does not favor a county takeover, if it does occur “maybe then people who have a better vision” could reconstruct the district.

“I think the district is bankrupt already,” she said. “If you have to make 12% salary cuts to balance your budget, you are bankrupt.” School officials balked at the notion.

“If all you care about are salaries, then you can take the position that it doesn’t matter if this district goes into bankruptcy,” Quezada said. “If you care about poor children and if you care about a school district that is struggling to survive and you want to help it survive, there is no way you can take that position.”

Bernstein said the union is eager to continue negotiations and help the district find ways to save money. However, she could not say if negotiated cost-saving measures would make up for $180 million in salary cuts. The district said proposed savings don’t come close to that figure.

If the union loses in court, the teachers will be forced to repay the money to the district and will be confronted with even lower paychecks for the rest of the year. One union leader said he has been advising teachers not to spend the extra money if they receive their paychecks.

The legal actions have escalated the labor union wars among district employees, prompting more strife among the workers who are responsible for educating children and helping to run schools.

Unions representing about 29,000 other district employees have signed contracts agreeing to the same pay cuts teachers are fighting. Those unions also won guarantees that the teachers union will not receive favorable treatment.

The court order only applies to the teachers union. It is unclear whether the district would be legally liable to make the same concessions to other unions.