School district finalizes teacher contract
Healthcare was a bone of contention
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

After months of debate over teacher pay raises and health and retirement benefits, the Las Virgenes Unified School District and the Las Virgenes Educators Association, the union representing teachers, have reached agreement.

Teachers won a 3 percent salary hike retroactive to July, plus an additional 3 percent raise effective Feb. 1. The contract also provides a $750 increase to the 26th anniversary increment, bonus money paid to long tenured instructors who have reached the top of the pay scale.

Medical benefits were hard won by union officials. Teachers will receive a total of $9,800 per year in health benefits.

Healthcare was a sticking point on many fronts. According to Superintendent Sandra Smyser's report to the board, the district and union have agreed to examine multiple options, including Health Care Coalition programs, participation in existing labor management programs, or the formation of a cooperative program with Moorpark, Simi Valley and Conejo Valley school districts to garner more cost effective programs from healthcare providers.

"Medical benefits remain an area of concern for us as it does for many in the private sector," said Dan Stepenosky, assistant superintendent of personnel. If the district and union choose to work with the Health Care Coalition, Stepenosky believes costs could be reduced without sacrificing quality coverage.

The coalition is a group of employers and unions with three goals: organizing groups of healthcare purchases to leverage reform, obtaining performance data on local healthcare providers and negotiating model contracts with providers, Stepenosky said. "I think this coalition holds much promise," he said.

Union officials continue to feel stung over the extended budget battle. "We are not ecstatic, but we are satisfied with the final outcome," said Paul Markowitz, copresident of the union with Sandra Pope.

"We are very disappointed with all that we had to go through to get to this outcome," Markowitz said. "Teachers are still very upset and feel that the district does not value them. We should have gotten to a resolution very quickly this year, like every other district around us."

"While Las Virgenes teachers, counselors, psychologists, librarians and nurses are glad an agreement has been reached, many are disappointed that it became a drawnout battle to reach agreement," said Arleigh Kidd, California Teachers Association/LVEA executive director. "The association is guardedly optimistic that negotiations can be settled quickly and in a more amicable manner in the next school year," Kidd said. "The members of LVEA would much prefer to put all their efforts into the education of the students of Las Virgenes and not into conflicts over contractual matters."

School district officials said previously that they were bound by legal restrictions including the ability to sustain a budget for three years. Officials did not want to increase class sizes or cut programs to pay for salary increases.

Under-funded special education mandates continue to plague the district and drain extra funds.

Las Virgenes enrolls about three times more special education students than neighboring districts, but programs mandated by the state and federal government are not fully funded by the agencies that require them. For example, the law requires the district to offer preschool for children with autism. The government funds $190,000 for the program, but the actual cost to the Las Virgenes district is $1.3 million.

As part of the contract agreement, the district and union will collaborate on raising awareness about under-funded mandates for special education, with the goal of securing additional funding from the state and federal government.

"I'm very pleased to have an agreement in place," Stepenosky said. "It was a lot of work and took a team effort, but we got it done. "The agreement does represent financial challenges for LVUSD, but staff is hard at work to ensure we meet the challenges."