Local News in Brief : Teachers’ Contract Includes 10% Raise

The South Pasadena Board of Education has approved a new contract with 158 teachers, giving the teachers a 10% wage increase beginning next month. In the action taken late Monday, the board also agreed to binding arbitration on disciplinary and policy matters, something a majority of the board had opposed last week, saying it threatened the panel’s independence.

Last Wednesday, the teachers staged the first strike in the district’s 100-year history. All but nine of 141 classroom teachers walked out for the day, and 115 substitutes staffed the five schools that serve the district’s 3,500 students. The teachers complained that South Pasadena ranked 41st out of 43 school districts in the county in pay for experienced teachers.

The contract, which was approved Monday morning by about 99% of the teachers, also reduces the total number of days in the school year. The current 185-day term will be reduced by one day a year for the next two years.