By Mary O’KEEFE

The voting has been tallied and it appears Glendale Teachers Association (GTA) members overwhelmingly approved the tentative agreement between GTA and Glendale Unified School District for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.

The proposed agreement was announced in November and voting occurred from Dec. 2 to Dec. 6. Out of 1,245 eligible electors 902 voted; 843 (93.5% of members) voted to approve the contract and 59 (6.5% of members) voted not to approve, according to a statement on the GTA website. 

The proposed agreement includes an ongoing 4% wage increase retroactive to July 1, 2023 and an additional 2%, one-time payment for the 2024-25 school year. It also includes updated standards for evaluations for certificated employees and an early notification incentive for employees planning to retire or resign at the end of the 2024-25 school year, according to a GUSD release in November.
The tentative agreement also includes no changes to the current Blue Shield employee healthcare plans or the District’s contribution to plans for the 2024-25 school year. According to information from GTA, this agreement also includes a commitment that future savings on health and welfare benefits that may result from the work of the 2024-25 Employment Benefits Committee will be subject to negotiations, according to that same release. 

It now falls to the GUSD board to approve, or reject, the contract when the board next meets on Jan. 21.