Arlington Hts. teachers get small raises

Hard economic times have produced creative cooperation in determining a salary schedule for teachers in Arlington Heights Elementary District 25.

Under a three-year contract approved recently by the District 25 Board of Education and the Arlington Teachers Association, teachers still will get raises for additional years of service and for additional education.

But each year a new salary schedule is worked out, and the total amount spent for salary increases is tied to Consumer Price Index.

“It was a really long process,” said Kim Dyer, co-chair of the negotiations team for the teachers association. “We are so excited about the way we worked together. Everybody got a little bit. And we were really careful with taxpayers' money.”

This year the salary schedule increases a total of 1.35 percent; next school year it will be 2.45 percent. The beginning salary in District 25 is $41,439 this year, while the top salary is $98,376.

No salary schedule can be written yet for the third and final year of the contract, although the increase should fall between 2.4 and 3 percent.

The salary schedule was adjusted for the second year so that each of the 425 teachers and certified staff already employed will receive raises of about $1,000, Dyer said. Rising health care costs are expected to eat up those increases.

Keeping jobs was a high priority of the teachers, said Dyer.

“Absolutely. What would be the good of getting more money for some people if you lost other people's jobs?” she said. “We want to be fair to everyone.”

School districts and teachers unions are being innovative in contract talks, said Charles McBarron, director of communications for the Illinois Education Association.

It's nonstandard for a bargaining unit like the Arlington Teachers Association to enter a contract without knowing what the salary schedule will be in the third year, he said.

“The teachers have an interest in the district being fiscally responsible and solvent and maintaining the programs we have for students,” said Renee Zoladz, District 25's assistant superintendent for personnel.

There will be no reduction in staff or increase in class sizes to pay for the contract, said Stacey Mallek, assistant superintendent for business. The current-year budget adopted by the board did not specify money for salary increases, so the funding will come from a contingency fund and from federal stimulus money, she said.

Next year the starting salary for beginning teachers will be about the same as this year, said Dyer. She said her union's members were “very grateful” for the contract.

“We were able to keep the benefits,” she said. “In this day and age that's huge for everyone.”