OAKLAND -- After months of promising never to accept a pay cut, the Oakland teachers union has signed off on a modest salary reduction that will help shrink a massive deficit in the upcoming school year, officials said Monday.
The union agreed to a new contract last week that will cut teachers' pay a maximum of 4 percent by reducing salaries and the number of days they will work next year.

"I understand the situation, but it's so hard to be a teacher and just eke out an existence," said McClymonds High School English teacher Mark Sneed.

While the new contract probably won't cause any teachers to miss mortgage payments, any pay cut is hard to swallow, Sneed said.

"To me it's an issue of respect," he said. "There are places money can be (cut) aside from a teacher's salary."

The teachers union, the Oakland Education Association, took a hard line against pay cuts in public during the last months of the school year.