UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of EDUCATION BLUE RIBBON SCHOOLS of EXCELLENCE
Negotiations Update
Updated November 12, 2007
Posted November 12, 2007 p.m.
Review of the 2007-2009 Contract
Approved by
Township High School Board of Education
and
District 211 Teachers Union
In its basic terms, the contract provides for a 3.25% increase to the base salary for the 2007-2008 school year (Attachment #9 & Attachment #10) along with a lump sum payment of 0.7%. The second year of the contract provides a base salary increase equal to the CPI-U (Consumer Price Index All Urban Consumers) of calendar year 2007, plus a lump sum amount of 1.2%. The base salary increase for 2007-2008 and the lump sum amounts for both years were less than the first two years of the Board proposed three-year contract. Basing the second year’s base salary increase on CPI-U may provide a different level of increase than that proposed by either the Union or the District, but it accomplishes a major goal of the District which is to keep salary costs in the same range as revenue increases. District 211’s revenue increases are tied directly to CPI-U.
Tuition reimbursement was increased to $300 per semester hour for 2007-2008 and to $320 per semester hour for 2008-2009. If the actual cost is less than the established rate, the amount actually billed to the student is reimbursed. In instances where public university courses are not available within a 50 mile radius, additional amounts will be reimbursed up to 60% of the cost differential. However, such coursework must have prior approval of the Principal and Superintendent.
The final increase for the PPO-2 health insurance option will be split between the two school years with 3.2% of the final 5% increase to occur in 2007-2008 and the final 1.8% in 2008-2009.
Summer school rates of pay were increased to a range of $38.25 to $46.25 in the summer of 2008 and a range of $39.25 to $47.25 in the summer of 2009. National Board Certified Teachers will receive a local stipend of $700 per year.
The contract also establishes Teacher Assistant and Non-Certified Nurses’ pay for the two school years. Teacher Assistant pay will range from $14.35 to $21.92 per hour in 2007-2008, with the 2008-2009 pay level adjusted by the CPI-U. Non-certified nurses will receive an hourly rate of $28.25 for the 2007-2008 school year.
The terms of the contract permit the District’s salary and fringe benefit costs to remain within the revenue stream of the CPI-U increase. As was promised during the referendum, the settlement will be paid from normal revenue increases and no referendum monies will be utilized to fund the salary increases. Further, the lump sum payments are directly related to the avoidance of cost increases in our health insurance program and are being shared with employees. Both the salary amounts and the lump sum amounts are budgeted within the salary account in the District’s budget.
The District’s health insurance costs have remained relatively flat for three years due to lesser cost options selected by our staff and/or higher premium payments by District 211 employees. If no adjustments had been made in the District’s health insurance program in 2005, costs would likely be $4.5 million higher than projected for the 2007-2008 school year.
Bargaining of the Contract began in January 2007 and concluded November 6, 2007. Bargaining of the successor contract will likely begin in the Spring of 2009.
I wish to extend my thanks to the Board of Education, its bargaining team, and the Teachers Union bargaining team for their hard work that led to the settlement.
Roger Thornton, Superintendent
Township High School District 211
Posted November 7, 2007 a.m. (#14 below is taken from the FAQ page)
14. I read in the newspaper that teachers will be voting on the best offer. How will they, and we, know what is the best offer?
The one-year proposal and the three-year proposal were developed during bargaining and were outlined in the August 14, 2007, letter to the Union. The two-year proposal was developed during mediation over two days, November 5 and November 6. No assurance was given at the end of mediation early Wednesday, November 7, that any of the proposals will be voted upon at Wednesday evening’s Union meeting. The Union will determine if its membership is provided the opportunity to vote on one or all of the proposals.
One-Year Proposal
The one-year proposal provides for a 2.5% base salary increase, plus the step increase. The one-year offer is exhibited in Attachment 3 and Attachment 5 to this web site document. Seventy-three percent of District 211 teachers have already received their step increase and would receive total salary increases for the 2007-2008 school year, including both base salary and step increases, of 4.57% to 7.68%. The remaining teachers, who are at the top of their salary schedule lanes, would receive a 2.5% increase. Teachers at the top of the master’s degree schedule and above will receive from $97,968 to $110,466.
Two-Year Proposal
The two-year proposal provides for a 3.25% and a 2.5% base salary increase for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years, respectively, plus lump sum amounts of .75% and 1.20% in the respective years. The two-year offer is exhibited in Attachment 7 and Attachment 8 to this web site document. As with the other proposals, 73% of our teachers have already received the step increase. Under the two-year proposal, teachers who are not yet at the top of their salary schedule would receive total salary increases of 5.34% to 8.47% in 2007-2008 and 4.57% to 7.68% in 2008-2009, plus lump sum amounts of .75% in 2007-2008 and 1.2% in 2008-2009, respectively. Teachers who are at the top of their salary schedule with a master’s degree or higher would earn between $98,685 and $111,275 in 2008-2009 and between $101,152 and $114,057 in 2008-2009, plus the lump sum amounts.
Three-Year Proposal
The three-year proposal, which the Union asked the Board of Education to withdraw, is exhibited in Attachment 2 and Attachment 4 to this web site document and provides for base salary increases of 3.4%, 2.5%, and 2.5%, respectively, over the next three school years, plus lump sum amounts of .75%, 1.25% and 1.1%, respectively. As with the other proposals, 73% of our teachers have already received a step increase. Under the three-year proposal, teachers who are not yet at the top of their salary schedule will receive total salary increases of 6.24% to 9.38% in 2007-2008, 5.82% to 8.93% in 2008-2009, and 5.67% to 8.78% in 2009-2010. The remaining teachers, who are at the top of the schedules, will receive 3.4%, 2.5% and 2.5%, respectively in 2007-2008, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010, plus lump sum amounts equaling .75%, 1.25% and 1.1% in the respective school years. Top salaries in the masters degree and above columns will range from $98,828 to $111,436 in 2007-2008, from $101,299 to $114,222 in 2008-2009, and from $103,831 to $117,078 in 2009-2010. In addition, each teacher receiving these amounts will receive the lump sum amounts in each respective year.
The three-year proposal also provides for a partial delay in the premium increase that is scheduled to increase for the PPO-2 plan on January 1, 2008.
The Teachers Union and the District 211 Bargaining Team met for mediation on Tuesday, October 9. Mediation involves a third party appointed by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and is provided to unions and employers at no cost to facilitate agreements among the parties during difficult negotiations. Unfortunately, agreement was not reached between the parties.
Given the requests for information about the District’s proposals and offers toward settlement, we are posting several items to assist our public to be fully informed about the issues before us. First is a letter dated August 14, 2007, wherein the District’s general settlement proposal is set forth in Attachment #1 to this posting. This proposal was the District’s final and best offer after several months of negotiations and sought to address most of the Union’s requests.
The items that follow the letter (Attachment #1) are the proposed salary schedules for a three-year agreement (Attachment #2) and for a one-year agreement (Attachment #3). Accompanying those schedules are charts listing the salary increase teachers at each step would receive this year and, in the case of the three-year agreement, for the following two school years (Attachment #4 and Attachment#5).
The three-year salary proposal includes lump sum payments. Two aspects of the lump sum amounts are of note: 1.) These lump sum amounts share with employees the greater than anticipated savings with the health insurance plan adopted under the present contract; and, 2.) the amounts do not compound and are one-time payments. Should similar savings not occur in future years, the District will not have incorporated those lump-sum amounts in its salary schedules that compound annually.
The District’s base salary increases for the three-year proposal are based on the CPI driven tax revenues anticipated to be received by the District. This assures that the base salary expenditure remains within the District’s annual revenue growth. The District’s proposal for one-year equals the present CPI and is less than the first year of the three-year proposal due to uncertainty of costs of health insurance if the current plan is not assured of continuation thru a multi-year agreement.
Following the salary information is a chart demonstrating District 211’s position among sixteen area high school districts in terms of our average teachers’ salary and its ranking in 2004 and 2006, as well as similar information about the average administrator salary for that same period of time (Attachment #6).
District 211 is fortunate to have a caring, competent and highly qualified staff. The District’s Board of Education has a commitment to fairly compensate the staff while honoring its commitment to the taxpayers of the District to live within its revenue stream to ensure the long-term viability of the District’s programs for students. Given today’s economic environment, the Board of Education has offered a strong salary and benefit package to its employees with the knowledge that the fiscal strength of the District is in the best interests of its students, its employees, and its taxpayers. We will continue to work within the parameters set forth to achieve an agreement with the Teachers’ Union.
Roger Thornton, Superintendent
Township High School District 211
Though collective negotiations are usually best conducted between the two parties until an agreement is reached, Thursday, September 13th’s Daily Herald featured a front page article that included a headline stating that bargaining between the District and the Teachers Union is heading toward a strike. That article and headline have prompted a level of concern among the public that needs to be addressed. Please consider the following:
A contract between the District and the Teachers Union remains in effect thru June 2008. The salary for the 2007-2008 school year is the only re-opener and the contract states, “The Union shall not cause or engage in or sanction any strike or other concentrated effort to provide less than full service to the district during the term of this contract.”
Bargaining has been underway since January 2007. Many sessions have been held and many issues addressed. The Board of Education, in response to the Union’s latest proposal in August, provided a final and best offer via written letter on August 14, 2007.
The Board of Education’s final and best offer provides for a strong salary offer but, very importantly, it permits the District’s salary expenditures to remain within the Consumer Price Index (CPI) trend of its revenue. During the referendum, the District made a commitment to contain its controllable expenditures to the increase of the CPI so that the District would not soon again find itself spending more than its annual increase in revenue.
As reported by the Illinois State Board of Education, the District continued to strengthen the position of its average teacher salary among comparable area school districts during the years since the referendum. For example, among 16 area high school districts in 2004, District 211’s average teacher’s salary ranked 5th. In 2006, District 211’s average teacher salary among those same 16 high school districts ranked 3rd. During that same period of time, District 211’s average administrator salary as compared to those same 16 high school districts moved from 7th in 2004 to 13th in 2006. Both the teacher salary amounts and the administrator salary amounts include required contributions to the state retirement system.
Information in the article was accurate but incomplete in describing the Board’s final and best offer. The Board offered a 3.4% increase to the base salary in 2007-2008, a 2.5% increase to the base salary for 2008-2009, and a 2.5% increase to the base salary for 2009-2010. Not included or described were the step increases that all teachers except those at the top receive annually. For most teachers not at the top of the schedule, the step increases would add an additional increase of approximately 3% to the base increase. So, for teachers not at the top of the salary schedule, the total increase includes the base increase plus the step increase. Teachers at the top of the schedule, who would receive the base increase of 3.4% or 2.5% (but not the step increase) depending upon the school year, are at the $95,000 to $107,000 salary level.
Also not included in the article were the lump sum amounts additional to the percentage increases offered as compensation for the larger than expected savings from the new health insurance plan instituted under the present agreement. Under the Board’s offer, each teacher would receive a lump sum payment of .75% of their teaching salary on November 15, 2007; a 1.25% lump sum payment of their teaching salary on November 15, 2008; and, a 1.1% lump sum payment of their teaching salary on November 15, 2009.
The Board of Education has been strengthening its cash reserves thru the referendum proceeds as it committed to do. These reserves provide the District with the ability to avoid cutting programs and/or staff should tax collections be less than expected in a given year. The reserves also permit the District to avoid the need for temporary and costly borrowing for operational costs in anticipation of receipt of property tax proceeds which are sometimes delayed.
Extremely important to an understanding of the Board of Education’s position on bargaining with all of our employees are the following points:
Quality education is dependent upon high quality and highly competent employees at every level. The quality of teachers in District 211 is very high and the District has always understood that competitive salaries are important in attracting and retaining high quality teachers. The Board of Education highly values our teachers and all employees who work with students. The Board’s offer is designed to reward and retain our strong teaching staff while continuing to position District 211 as a highly competitive school district in attracting the very best and brightest in the years ahead.
Under Illinois law, District 211’s revenue is controlled by the increase in the CPI. Whenever a school district’s spending obligations exceed the CPI, that school district is likely spending monies it will not be able to sustain. The District 211 Board of Education committed to its taxpayers that, if the referendum passed in 2005, it would carefully shepherd the dollars so that taxpayers would not face another referendum request. The Board’s final and best offer is as far as the Board can go while keeping that commitment.
Some point to strong cash reserves as a place to get additional monies for higher salaries. Any District that spends its cash reserves for ongoing salary commitments is similar to a family that spends its savings account on everyday things. When the savings account runs dry, cuts have to be made. In a school district, those cuts impact students and student programs along with staff that have to be dismissed. The Board of Education is committed to live within the normal growth in the revenue stream.
Though the District does not wish to bargain in public, it is sometimes necessary to share the District’s perspective on issues so that our public can know why the Board of Education has taken a particular stand on an issue or made a particular proposal that impacts both the schools and those who pay the taxes to permit our schools to remain strong.
Roger Thornton, Superintendent and Bargaining Spokesperson
Township High School District 211
