Teachers and District Are Close to Settling Wage Dispute : Labor: Santa Paula elementary school instructors in the 134-member union are expected to vote Thursday to ratify the proposal on pay hikes for the previous year.

The Santa Paula Elementary School District is on the verge of settling a nearly yearlong labor dispute with a union that represents 134 teachers.

The Santa Paula Federation of Teachers is expected to vote on the proposal Thursday. The offer is the last to be extended to the district before classes begin Sept. 4.

Union President Carolyn Ishida declined to disclose details of the proposal but predicted union members will ratify it, noting that a three-member panel composed of union, district and state mediators has recommended acceptance.

“I feel that there is satisfaction on both sides,” Ishida said.

Officials are attempting to settle annual wage hikes for the previous school year. The three-year contract with the teachers union expired June 30, and negotiations for a new contract have not begun.

Teachers rejected the last offer containing a wage increase of 5.23% and demanded a 6% increase, retroactive to September, 1989. Costs of the salary increases will have to be taken out of this year’s budget, an amount that is expected to be close to $400,000.

School officials also are confident that teachers will accept the district’s offer, said Randall Chase, assistant superintendent of business services.

Chase declined to specify the offer, except to say it represents an increase in the last proposal to the teachers union.

Under the terms of the old contract, teachers at the seven schools in Santa Paula earned between $20,120 and $39,936. They are also eligible to receive $975 in anniversary bonuses.

Teachers at the Santa Paula Elementary School District earn less than instructors in three of four other school districts in the city, according to figures compiled by the Ventura County superintendent of schools.

In addition to the labor dispute, district officials have grappled with budgetary problems the past year. Declining enrollment in the past two years alone has translated into about $437,000 in lost revenue for the 3,100-student school district.

The often bitter negotiations between teachers and the school district have continued since October, 1989.

Teachers several times threatened to strike because of the dispute, but never did.

At one point, the union asked for an 8.03% wage increase, retroactive to January, 1990, but was rejected after the school board said it could not afford to offer more without cutting staff.

In fact, the school board cited declining enrollment, dwindling reserves, school reconstruction expenses and the salary increases from the previous year as the major reasons for cuts in the district’s 1990-91 budget.

The school board in July approved more than $515,000 in budget cuts, a decision that involved the layoff of nine teachers at one elementary school and the middle school.

The move was timed with bonuses and salary increases for Chase and for district Superintendent David Philips and was protested loudly by the teachers union.

Chase said the budget may need to be revised further because of higher-than-anticipated costs in a reconstruction program at two elementary schools.

All students attending Isbell middle school and Barbara Webster elementary school will have to be housed in portable classrooms during the reconstruction project this year, and costs for those classrooms are exceeding estimates, Chase said.

Ishida said she hopes the protracted labor dispute will not affect negotiations over a new contract.

“I’m encouraged and am looking forward to starting negotiations,” she said.