Teachers approve salary-increase terms

Newport-Mesa Unified School District teachers approved a salary increase over the next three years, ending several tense months in which instructors protested for higher pay.

Elizabeth Novack, Newport-Mesa’s assistant superintendent of human relations, and Jim Rogers, the teachers union president, announced Thursday that teachers had voted for the proposed salary package, which will provide a combined 19% increase over the next three years as well as a 3% increase in benefits.

The Harbor Council PTA, which covers all of the Newport-Mesa district, counted the ballots Wednesday, and the school board voted unanimously to accept the increase Thursday.

Rogers said he felt vindicated by the agreement’s success.

“I’m very happy that we were able to pass this,” he said. “Now our job is to make sure we still move forward and have those goals on the horizon looking at us, and that we reach them sooner rather than later. I think we have a good foundation to do that.”

The teachers union hopes to raise salaries between the mean and the 75th percentile for all unified districts in Orange County; a report in January showed that Newport-Mesa ranked last out of 12 districts. The average annual salary for a Newport-Mesa teacher, the report says, is $64,292 this year. Under the agreement, the average salary would increase to $77,348 by 2009.

Newport-Mesa teachers made their frustration over salaries public in the last few months, picketing at a school board meeting in March and outside Corona del Mar High School’s open house in April. Later that month, more than 50 teachers took a day off in what many believed was an organized protest, although union officials said they did not endorse the action.

When the district and union proposed their three-year plan, a number of teachers called the salary increase insufficient. Ultimately, though, the proposal won 62% of the vote, with approximately 70% of Newport-Mesa teachers turning in their ballots.

“I’m the eternal optimist, but I expected it to pass,” Novack said. “I think the entire negotiating team is pleased with the outcome.”