Local News in Brief : Talks Over Burbank Teachers’ Pay Put Off

Amediation session on a salary dispute between Burbank teachers and school officials, expected to be held today, has been postponed because of a “giant misunderstanding,” a school district official said.

Another meeting was not immediately scheduled, but a teachers’ representative told the district that the educators want to meet over the weekend.

“We have not received any response to that,” said Maureen Doyle, president of the Burbank Teachers Assn.

Elizabeth Burroughs, assistant superintendent for district personnel services, said plans for a meeting today had never been made final, although Doyle had said a meeting was set.

“There was just a giant misunderstanding,” Burroughs said.

At the meeting, Doyle had been planning to present totals of the vote in which the district’s 550 teachers rejected the district’s latest salary offer. The vote also authorized the association’s board of directors to call a strike.

Doyle declined to disclose the figures but said teachers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike.

The district had offered an across-the-board salary increase of 3%, plus a one-time bonus of 3.5%of teachers’ annual salaries. Those bonuses would be paid with up to 55%of California Lottery funds above $125,000 that the district will receive from the state.

The teachers are seeking an across-the-board salary increase of 5.5%, with a bonus payment of 3.5%of teachers’ salaries.

The salary talks fall under a renegotiation clause covering the last year of a three-year contract that expires June 30.