Talks Between Orange Teachers, Board Again Stall Over Contracts

ORANGE — A state-appointed mediator wants to give it one more shot, but teachers and administrators in the Orange Unified School District appear to be hopelessly deadlocked over a year-old contract dispute.

The breakdown of talks comes at a crucial time, as school districts around the state recruit each other’s teachers to fill spots in newly downsized classrooms.

Last spring, a dozen teachers left Orange, and another 27 tried to get out of their contracts so they could take new jobs in higher-paying districts. Union officials said as many as 300 teachers, one-quarter of the staff, may leave or retire early over the contract issue.

That potential exodus hung like a pall over the latest mediation session, which broke up Monday evening with little progress.

Both sides say they desperately want to raise teacher salaries in the county’s lowest-paying district. But the fate of retiree health benefits for older teachers is proving to be a nearly overwhelming obstacle.

The district’s chief negotiator, Malcolm Sehuelt, said Tuesday that the school board is considering “all options,” and eventually may impose a unilateral contract on its teachers.

Union officials and many teachers, some of whom have begun wearing black ribbons to class, are threatening to withhold their “Letters of Intent to Return”--which are treated as one-year contracts--until just hours before year-round school begins July 1.

Sehuelt said that would be a difficult situation.

“In the worst-case scenario, that would give me 15 hours to know who is with me and who is not with me,” he said. “The association is using this time to the distinct disadvantage of the community.”

David Reger, president of the union, said the district can expect more acts of pressure from teachers in the weeks to come.

The crux of the dispute involves the lifetime health benefits that teachers could expect to receive until that program was canceled for anyone hired after 1992.

The district contends that the “unfunded liability” of these outstanding benefits could be as high as $195 million, a figure that eventually could lead to bankruptcy.

As a result, district negotiators have proposed a three-tiered salary schedule that would raise entry-level pay from $23,825 to $29,829 and more by the second year of the contract. But raises for older teachers would be little to none unless they agree to a voluntary buyout of their retiree benefits.

The district also offered a single-tier schedule with large entry-level raises that again made more money for older teachers contingent on giving up the retiree health benefits.

The union has consistently rejected a multitiered salary. Instead, leaders proposed a single pay raise of about 5% immediately, with an additional 6% raise for all levels of teachers. The voluntary buyout of benefits would remain a separate issue.

“Our proposal cuts well over half of the unfunded liability,” Reger said. “We’re upset with their proposal, because they’re making teachers pay for any salary increase. They’re making them try to fund any increase by giving up benefits.”

District officials countered that if they raised everyone’s pay, then the older teachers would have no incentive to give up their retirement benefits. They have asked the union to put both district proposals up to a vote of the rank-and-file, but union officials have refused.

“That would be akin to me asking if you would like to be hung or electrocuted,” Reger said.

Reger insisted that the district is trying to divide younger and older teachers.

“They’ve been trying all along to drive a wedge between teachers,” he said. “They have not succeeded and will not succeed.”

A last mediation session has been set for June 2, but neither side holds out much hope.