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Questions raised over release of contract information
The Long Beach Board of Education approved a memorandum of agreement with the Long Beach Classroom Teachers Association at the board's regular meeting on Oct. 13. Members of the public raised questions, however, about the board’s decision to keep the details of the contract confidential until it was ratified by the board and the CTA.
Long Beach teachers have worked without a new contract since June 30, 2008. The agreement is retroactive to July 1, 2008, will be in effect until 2012 and includes an average annual salary increase of 2.8 percent.
Longevity raises for teachers in years 13, 18, 19 and 24 were also increased.
"It's a good feeling to have a contract finished at the beginning of the school year," said board President Lynn Gergen. "I think it creates good will for all of us, and I feel that we came out feeling we got a fair agreement from each other."
"Despite difficult economic times," Steve Freeman, the CTA president and a library and media specialist at the middle school, said in a prepared statement, "the Long Beach Classroom Teachers Association and the Board of Education found common ground in this contract settlement."
The contract requires teachers to contribute more toward their health insurance. They now pay 13 percent of their premiums, but under the agreement their contribution will increase each year, ultimately, to 15 percent by 2012.
Teachers are given additional raises as they complete graduate courses after receiving a master's degree, according to a salary schedule. Teachers move up a pay grade with each 10 credits they earn. Previously, teachers could receive an unlimited number of increases per year. The new contract limits teachers to two increases per year.
Additionally, for teachers who have reached the final pay grade, MA80 — 80 credits beyond their master's degree — there is a limit of 135 hours of graduate course time for which they can be compensated. The previous contract had no limit.
The contract also requires teachers to offer two 30-minute sessions of extra help after school per week, and permits teachers who live outside the district but were on the payroll prior to June 30, 2009 to send their children to Long Beach schools.
