Beverly Hills Teachers OK New Pact by Slim Margin

After a rancorous, five-hour meeting, Beverly Hills teachers on Wednesday narrowly approved a two-year, 12% salary increase offer, ending the school system’s first-ever strike.

Gathered in a cavernous ballroom at the Beverly Hilton, the teachers voted 150 to 133 to ratify the Beverly Hills Unified School District offer 13 days after walking out of their classrooms.

The Beverly Hills Board of Education formally approved the contract offer shortly after the results of the teachers’ vote were announced.

Part of the wage settlement is contingent upon the receipts of about $400,000 pledged by local parents’ groups for higher teacher salaries and on passage of a special parcel tax measure to be placed on the June ballot by the school district.

Parents have promised to raise up to $600,000. Any amount over the $400,000 already pledged would be used to give district employees a bonus next year or to defray the cost of medical coverage.

Revenue from the parcel tax would be used to add an additional 3% to the teachers’ salary schedule in 1990-91, while the parents’ money will be used to offer a 2% one-time bonus this year. The teachers’ union and the district agreed that the bonus will go to all district employees.

Beginning teachers’ pay of $21,604 will rise to at least $28,041 this year, or as high as $28,575 with the parents’ money. The current top pay of $46,270 will go to $48,584 this year, or $49,509 with the bonus. Next year, beginning pay will be at least $30,004, or go as high as $30,861 with the parcel tax money, while top pay would go to $51,985, or $53,470 if the tax passes.

With those salaries, Beverly Hills teachers will earn about the same or slightly more than their counterparts in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where a nine-day strike last May led to a 24% wage hike over three years.

During the heated ratification meeting, teachers anguished over the district’s proposal before voting by secret ballot, with those opposing it saying that too much of the money was contingent on the passage of the parcel tax measure. Few, if any, appeared thoroughly satisfied with the settlement.

“It’s not a victory, but it’s over,” said Bliss Trafton, a Horace Mann Elementary School teacher.

Although she recommended ratification of the district offer, Judy McIntire, president of the Beverly Hills Education Assn., which represents the district’s 300 teachers, nurses, librarians and counselors, said later, “No one felt they had won. The money won’t be enough to keep us competitive (with salaries paid in other districts). I don’t know how teachers will feel about staying” in Beverly Hills.

Board President Dana Tomarken acknowledged that the close ratification vote showed that “people are disappointed that the district is out of money. The day of reckoning is hard to face when you have the name Beverly Hills attached to it.”

Parents who were involved in raising money for higher teachers salaries said they were pleased the strike was over. “We’re happy that our children will get their teachers back,” said Albert Gersten, a spokesman for the Children First parents’ group formed after the strike began. But he said he did not believe the teachers “are really getting (paid) what they are worth.”

Nicholas A. Micelli, an attorney and parent, said the settlement will be “a naked victory if we stop now. We must find a permanent solution, and that is the parcel tax.”