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Late Thursday night, the Los Angeles Unified School District announced they had reached a tentative three-year agreement with eight different labor partners over health and welfare payments.

The plan still requires ratification by both the unions and the Board of Education.

Four key points in the tentative agreement, as distributed to the press in a district statement:

• Maintain Current Contribution Levels: The District contribution levels will remain at 2017 levels for each of the three years of the agreement.

• Accounting for a Surplus: Any amount in excess of $100,000,000 in the health care reserves as of December 31, 2020 will be returned to the District’s General Fund.

• Accounting for a Shortfall: If the health care reserves are below $100,000,000 on December 31, 2020, the District will replenish to the $100,000,000 level if the unions, through the Health Benefits Committee, achieve a $200,000,000 reduction in unfunded retiree medical care liability during the life of the agreement and do not make the health plans more expensive (projections indicate that there should be more than a $100,000,000 reserve level on December 31, 2020)

• Confronting Retiree Liabilities: A committee will be formed to study ways to reduce the District’s unfunded retiree medical care liability, as well as exploring ways to reduce the percentage of spending on health care as a percentage of the District’s total budget.

 

“We are grateful for all of the hard work that went into this tentative agreement,” Interim Superintendent Vivian Ekchian said in a statement. “This three-year agreement provides stability and is good for our students, employees and the community.”

Board President Monica Garcia added: “We thank our partners for working with us to reach this historic agreement. It is important to note that we will not be increasing our yearly health care spending levels. We have also built in incentives to encourage everyone to look for additional ways to tackle our unfunded medical liability. Overall, this agreement is an important step in addressing our financial challenges.

“The tentative health and welfare agreement covers eight of the district’s labor partners — who represent 12 bargaining units — and span the calendar years of 2018, 2019 and 2020.