The Teachers Association of Long Beach’s members have ratified the union’s tentative agreement with the Long Beach Unified School District, which includes raises and a framework for full-day kindergarten.

The district and TALB came to the tentative agreement two weeks ago after months of negotiation. The agreement includes a 4.5% raise for teachers and a 2.5% one-time payment on 2021-22 earnings, as well as language governing how to move forward with full-day kindergarten and transitional kindergarten programs beginning in the fall.

TALB’s membership voted last week, with 1,362 K-12 teachers (64.6%) voting to approve the agreement and 746 (35.4%) voting against it. There had been speculation about how the vote would go, with some teachers dissatisfied with the terms of the agreement (TALB had originally asked for a 6% raise). The vote was closer than ratification votes typically are but still carried by a wide margin.

Both TALB and the district’s second-largest union, the Long Beach chapter of the California Schools Employees Association, have ratified their tentative agreements with the LBUSD.

The final step for both deals is approval by the LBUSD Board of Education, with several votes on the agenda for Wednesday evening’s board meeting, which will be streamed live at the district’s YouTube page beginning at 5 p.m.

LBUSD reaches agreement with teachers on raises, full-day kindergarten