The Los Angeles Unified School District and teachers' union have reached an agreement to have teachers take 10 unpaid days off in 2012-13 for a savings of more than $100 million, district officials said late Friday.
The agreement still needs to be approved by the school board Tuesday and United Teachers Los Angeles in the coming week, said John Bowes, assistant chief human resources officer.
"If the UTLA membership ratifies the agreement it will allow us to bring back over 4,000 teaching jobs," Bowes said. "...So this is a good solution for both sides. It allows the district to help solve a critical fiscal challenge and puts more teachers back in classrooms with students."
A union spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the agreement, teachers would lose five days of instruction, one of their two pupil free days used for professional development, and four paid non-work days, Bowes said.
"The good thing for the district is these are not days we lose instructional services for students," Bowes said. The district has been struggling to close a $390 million budget shortfall for 2012-13, and officials have said union concessions are key to bridging that gap and avoiding more severe cuts to programs.
This would be the fourth year of furlough days for teachers. Over the last three years, teachers have taken 16 furlough days, Bowes said. This year teachers took four furlough days.
For the 2012-13 school year teachers on a traditional single-track calendar will lose the last two days of instruction June 3 and June 4; the Monday through Wednesday of Thanksgiving week (Nov. 19, 20, and 21), and the pupil free day June 5, Bowes said.
The impacts on their paycheck will be spread across a few months so that, for example, the Thanksgiving week loss is felt in September and December, Bowes said.
If voters pass Gov. Jerry Brown's initiative to raise taxes on the November ballot then it is possible that some furlough days will not be necessary, officials said.
*This story has been updated.
Tami Abdollah can be reached via email and on Twitter (@latams).
