LOS ANGELES – It may sound strange, but Los Angeles school leaders’ generous new contract offer to the local teachers union makes the possibility of a walkout seem more likely than ever.

On Monday, Los Angeles Unified School District leaders released the terms of a new contract that would give United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) members an 8.5 percent raise in base pay over four years – a pay hike that’s in addition to the annual longevity raises and college education-related raises most union members presumably receive.

The proposed contract covers the next three school years and includes a pay raise (in the form of a lump sum payment) for the just-completed 2013-14 school year, LASchoolReport.com reports.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

District officials say that when increased contributions to employees’ health insurance and pension plans are taken into consideration, UTLA members would see a net compensation increase of 26.3 percent.

The district is also promising to hire thousands of new teachers – many of whom have been laid off over the last three years – and to shrink class sizes for elementary schools, among other things, notes LASchoolReport.com.

But since union contracts talks almost always come down to money, it’s telling that district leaders are emphasizing the fact that the overall raise offered to employees is 26.3 percent. It’s that little detail, in fact, that makes us believe the district’s offer is more about winning a public relations battle than it is about satisfying UTLA members.

The unionists – who have not received a general, across-the-board pay raise for seven years – are demanding a 17.6 percent pay bump over an unspecified number of years. (We presume they want that all in one year but are too shy to admit that publicly.)

This spring, when the district offered UTLA members 4 percent raises over two years, the union rejected it as “insulting.”

Newly elected UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl said earlier this month that school “employees have been treated like doormats over the past few years,” and warned members the union may go on strike for the first time since 1989.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

If anyone has a right to feeling like a “doormat,” it’s Mr. and Mrs. California taxpayer who should be appalled that educators in the dysfunctional district are being offered a pay raise of any amount. The graduation rate for LAUSD students is an embarrassing 67.9 percent, and the percentage of students who are proficient in math and language arts (reading and writing) is even lower.

Instead of giving anybody a raise, parents and taxpayers should be demanding that scores of principals, teachers, and administrators be shown the door.

Maybe instead of a teachers’ strike, it’s time for a taxpayers’ strike. Los Angeles would be a good place to start.