The Los Angeles Unified School District and the union representing 48,000 teachers and certain other employees announced an agreement last week on a 2.5 percent wage increase.
Officials of the district and United Teachers Los Angeles also said they agreed on several nonsalary issues, including forming a task force on reducing class size, particularly in the lowest-performing schools and for 8th and 9th grade mathematics classes.
Teachers, counselors, librarians, and health-services professionals covered by the tentative pact are to vote this month on whether to approve it. The board of education for the 727,000-student district also must vote on whether to ratify the agreement.
If approved, the pay raises will be retroactive to July of this year. The deal would cover the final year of a three-year contract that is set to expire on June 30, 2006.
A district statement said there was also accord on a task force on “K-12 assessments with the object of helping teachers meet student academic needs and improve teaching and learning in the classroom.” A statement by the UTLA characterized it as an agreement to “limit excessive student testing.”’