U-46 to negotiate six contracts next year

Elgin school officials will have their hands full in the spring and summer, when six unions representing roughly 3,000 employees including teachers will be negotiating new contracts.

School district and union leaders say it's the first time they can recall all six contracts expiring at the same time.

That's happening because Elgin Area School District U-46 and the Elgin Teachers Association last school year negotiated a one-year extension to the teachers contract that was set to expire in the summer.

Looming large over the negotiations will be U-46's ongoing deficit. District officials pegged the deficit at nearly $40 million this year, although that figure could be downgraded now that U-46 expects to receive $15.5 million in additional state aid this year because of a funding bill that passed just last week.

Still, the district's finance staff says new funding may not be enough to a make required debt payment in January. Unless the state makes good on an estimated $22 million in delayed payments, the district may have to take out up to $30 million in short-term loans.

U-46 leaders stopped short of calling for conservative contracts but said the district's deficit and cash-flow issues will be the elephants in the negotiating room.

“I don't think it's a secret that we have some major challenges in regards to our budget. That's one part of negotiations,” U-46 Superintendent Jose Torres said, adding, “There's certainly a lot of uncertainties around the economy. We're definitely going to be mindful of that.”

Leaders in some suburban school districts believe one way around that uncertainty is to tie increases in salaries and benefits for unionized employees to the rate of inflation, which is also the rate by which school districts' property tax income usually increases every year.

U-46 officials wouldn't say whether they will seek to tie contracts to inflation, as they did in some of the agreements that expire in 2011. One problem with some of those contracts, Finance Director Dale Burnidge said, is that they guaranteed inflationary raises within a certain range which ended up outpacing inflation in some years.

“Our largest portion of revenue is property taxes,” Burnidge said.

By keeping raises in line with inflation, “you can tie your largest revenue with your largest expenditures,” he added.

The funding bill that is expected to pad U-46's balance sheet by $15.5 million this year also may come up during negotiations. Employee groups could point to the bill as evidence that U-46's financial condition is improving.

But U-46 officials have tried to tamp down expectations in the past week, saying much of the money will probably go toward paying down the deficit and existing expenses.

“We're still in a deficit,” U-46 board President Ken Kaczynski said. “That $15.5 (million) won't do us any good if they take $15.5 (million) away from us next year. We're not rich.”

As part of the one-year extension, teachers agreed to freeze their salaries this year with the exception of teachers who acquired enough training or experience to advance to a higher salary bracket.

U-46 officials haven't yet proposed a continuation of that for any of its employees, but, Burnidge said, “I'm sure that will come up.”

Teachers union President Kathy Castle said she and her members are cognizant of the ongoing financial difficulties but that other issues perhaps exacerbated by recent budget cuts may be equally important at the bargaining table.

“The biggest problem and probably the most complicated is the use of teachers' time,” Castle said. The increased workload has resulted in 12- to 15-hour days for some teachers, she said.

“You can do that for a while, and then something is going to give,” she said.

Castle and her bargaining team also may raise the issue of substitute teachers, who are being asked to do things for which they are not necessarily qualified or trained, she said.

District leaders say the contract with the teachers union, by far the largest employee group with about 2,350 members, will set the tone for the rest of the contract talks. One of the issues that will have to be addressed is the duration of the contract.

Officials said two approaches have merits: a short-term contract that protects both sides against economic volatility or a longer-term deal that provides predictability.

“The new normal is stability,” Torres said. “To the degree that we can create stability through a longer-term contract, that might be a better approach.”

Everyone says it is too early to predict much about negotiations, which probably won't begin in earnest until the spring and conclude until mid- to late-summer. By then, U-46 officials hope to have a better idea of what the state will do with public schools, whether it's passing an income tax increase or slashing funding.

“It's really early to know how much the state will allocate next year,” Burnidge said. “There's still so much uncertainty with the state.”