VENTURA : Teachers Reach Tentative 3-Year Pact

Teachers in the Ventura Unified School District have reached a tentative agreement with district officials on a three-year labor pact, union leaders said Wednesday.

Under the agreement, which must be ratified by teachers and the board of education, instructors probably will get a raise of 3% to 3.5% for the fiscal year that begins July 1, said John Gennaro, a negotiator for the teachers union.

A 1% raise is guaranteed, and the additional 2.5% cost-of-living increase will occur if the school district gets a similar inflationary increase in state funding, Gennaro said.

Gov. Pete Wilson has proposed a 2.7% cost-of-living increase in education funding for the 1995-96 school year, and the state Legislature is expected to go along with that recommendation, officials said.

If the pact is approved, teachers will earn between $23,800 and $50,600, said Joseph Richards, assistant superintendent of business services.

The labor agreement covers three years, but teachers reserved the right to reopen salary negotiations at budget time each year, Richards said. No changes were made in the benefits package offered teachers, he said.

Gennaro said he is satisfied with the pact, given the continuing weak state of California’s economy and its sluggish tax revenues. Ventura Unified teachers did not receive a raise this year but received a 2% salary increase and a 4% bonus for the 1993-94 school year.

“We’ve done as well as we can do,” Gennaro said.