IRVINE : Teachers Start 4th Year Without Raise, Hope for Increase in New Talks

The Irvine Unified School District’s 1,062 teachers have begun their fourth consecutive school year without a pay raise, the longest such hiatus in the school district’s history.

But teachers are hoping that the first boost in state education funding in four years will lead to higher salaries when contract negotiations begin later this month.

The teachers’ last contract expired at the end of the 1993-94 school year. Negotiations for a new contract were stalled by Orange County’s Dec. 6 bankruptcy filing.

“The bankruptcy has been hard on everyone,” said Steve Garretson, president of the Irvine Teachers Assn. “Real living expenses in Orange County have gone up about 12%, so there has been a decline in real wages.”

Teachers union representatives plan to begin contract talks with district negotiators Sept. 25.

Irvine teachers earn an average $43,000 a year. About 120 teachers were sent layoff notices after the county bankruptcy, but increased state funding and early retirements limited layoffs to about 10 positions, Garretson said.

For the first time in four years, public school districts in California will get a state cost-of-living increase, which will total $1.9 million for Irvine Unified. The district will also get a one-time payment of $1.1 million from the state, but that money cannot be used for ongoing expenses such as teacher salaries.

Prospects for higher teacher pay depend on the ultimate cost of the county bankruptcy, school board member Mike Regele said. The 22,000-student district is facing annual debt payments between $800,000 and $1.1 million for the next 10 years.

“If our debt service falls, the excess money could be used for a number of things,” Regele said. “Teacher salaries are a serious concern to me, but I can’t commit us to encumbering ourselves when we have commitments to so many things.”