Teachers at El Camino Real Charter High School voted overwhelmingly to accept a new contract offer Monday, ending a week-long strike at the prestigious Woodland Hills school.
Officials with United Teachers Los Angeles said the 97.5% of the educators voted in favor of the deal.
The two sides held multiple bargaining sessions over the long Presidents Day weekend, culminating in an offer from administrators Sunday.
The teachers went on strike at 8 a.m. Feb. 10 after working without a contract since July. Two earlier mediation sessions failed to produce a deal.
“After a long week, we successfully reached an agreement where school management has committed to fairer wages and other wins that benefit our school community,” said Kate Rechner, a special education English teacher on the union’s bargaining team. “We’re looking forward to getting back into the classroom with our incredible students. We, alongside parents and students, are more united than ever and we will continue to fight for the school we envision ECR can be.”
The teachers were expected back Tuesday, and were planning a “school walk-in” at 7:45 a.m. at 5440 Valley Circle Blvd.
UTLA said the agreement includes a salary increase of 19% over three years, among other terms. The school’s Board of Directors will formally vote to approve the contract at their next board meeting on Feb. 27.
School officials had offered the teachers a 15% raise, while the union reportedly was pushing for a 21% bump.
“No other school in the United States has offered a 15% raise, which by the way is 5.5% more than the second-largest school district here in the United States, which is the Los Angeles Unified School District,” said Brad Wright, chair of the school’s board of directors.
“The problem we have is that they would like to have 21%, and if we did that — which I would love to be able to give it to them, the board would love to be able to give this to them — if we did that, we’re an independent charter, which means that we would go in the red and we would be revoked, which means the charter would then fall back to the hands of the Los Angeles Unified School District,” he added.
It was revealed at a board of directors meeting in December that school administrators received a 15% salary increase retroactive to July 1, 2024. That was followed by a vote of 5-1 in January to cut 44 credentialed positions, including five counselors, five English teachers, one school psychologist and nine SPED teacher, according to the union.
The cuts were made because of declining enrollment, according to the board of directors for the school. Enrollment dropped to 2,937 students in 2024-25, down from 3,171 in the 2023-24 school year.
Because of the strike, some classes have had no teachers or substitutes. Some students who attended school last week were marked present for the day and some spent the day in the school’s auditorium.
El Camino Real Charter High School has won 10 National Academic Decathlon championships and 14 state championships, the most in the United States.