ANAHEIM : 2.5% Raise Proposed in Magnolia District

The Magnolia School District’s 450 full-time employees would receive a 2.5% raise retroactive to last July 1 under a proposal scheduled to be considered by the Board of Trustees today.

To pay for the $434,000 increase, administrators of the 5,200-student west Anaheim elementary school district have told the trustees that they might have to stop purchasing--for at least a year--new library books, encyclopedias, maps and globes; eliminate a gardener and a maintenance worker and stop publishing student newspapers.

Administrators have suggested 35 potential cuts. The district has an annual budget of $20.9 million.

“We are going to have to tighten our belts some, but it hasn’t been decided” which programs will be cut, said Rick Turrentine, the district’s assistant superintendent for business services. “It is premature at this time to speculate on the decisions the board will make as to what will be reduced. Many items may be added or removed from the list.”

Janie Olds, president of the Magnolia Educators Assn., the teachers’ union, said she doesn’t believe the district will have to cut programs to pay for the raise.

“Quite frankly, I think it’s district rhetoric,” Olds said. “There is plenty of money in the district budget.”

She said the district’s enrollment is increasing and therefore it will receive additional money from the state.

The association’s members voted on the package last week and the results will be announced today. Olds expects the members to approve the contract.

The teachers’ collective bargaining agreement expired last June 30, and they have since been working without a contract. The new deal will expire this June 30 and negotiations on a new contract will begin soon, Turrentine said.

The contract for non-teaching employees such as secretaries and custodians also expires this June 30, and the district agreed to give them the same raise given to the teachers.

The board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the district’s headquarters, 2705 W. Orange Ave.