VENTURA : Teachers Delay Vote on Contract

Ventura Unified School District teachers delayed a vote Tuesday on a proposed three-year contract that could have ended nearly 11 months of negotiations in Ventura County’s third-largest school district.

District and union negotiating teams reached a tentative agreement March 1, and teachers were set to vote Tuesday. But a problem with a computer delayed printing and distribution of the contract proposal, said Dr. Richard Averett, district manager of personnel services, at a board meeting Tuesday night.

“Unless we have the contract in front of us, there is really no reason to go ahead and vote on it,” said Pam Mortensen, a teachers union representative.

Officials refused to discuss specifics of the contract affecting about 660 teachers in the 15,000-student district. However, in what appears to be a major concession, union representatives have apparently agreed to have teachers pay part of the cost of health benefits for retired teachers.