Antelope Valley District OKs 26.3% Pay Hike for Teachers

The Antelope Valley Union High School District ended several months of negotiations with its teachers’ union Wednesday night by approving a new contract that gives members a 23.6% pay increase over the next three years.

The district’s board of trustees ratified the new three-year contract by a 4-1 vote. The dissenter was Trustee Bob McMullen, who complained that the pact was too expensive. Members of the teachers’ union, which represents 417 teachers, counselors and nurses, approved the contract by a 288-44 vote on Tuesday.

The contract provides for an 8% raise this year retroactive to July 1, and increases of 7% in each of the next two school years, officials said. The cumulative increase, compounded, amounts to 23.6%. The contract continues full district funding of health plans, which had been at issue in contract negotiations.

The first-year increase will yield salaries ranging from $22,590 for a beginning instructor to $46,762, for a teacher with at least 13 years experience and extensive graduate course credits. Under the old contract, salaries had ranged from $20,917 to $43,298, officials said.

If other district employees such as clerical workers and administrators were awarded similar pay raises, the new contract would cost the district about $3 million this year, said Michael Rossi, district assistant superintendent for personnel services.

Rossi said the new contract, which comes only weeks after the district declared that negotiations had stalled, “reflects the board’s continuing commitment to the teachers” and their needs. But, teachers said, many of the district’s problems remain unresolved.

Ken May, a teacher who is vice president of the Antelope Valley Teachers Assn., said most teachers were pleased by the new pact. But, he said, teacher morale remains low because of conflicts over campus security, teachers’ lack of say in school policies and other issues.

A noisy demonstration staged by teachers at a board of trustees meeting two weeks ago was credited by teachers with moving stalled negotiations forward.

The raises for the Antelope Valley high school teachers are the largest granted this year by any major school district in the valley. But the high school teachers still have a lower salary range than teachers in the Palmdale School District.

The high school district covers the entire Antelope Valley, serving an area of about 1,600 square miles. The district operates five regular high schools, a continuation school and an adult school. Enrollment is about 9,800 students, up about 7% over last year.