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Hawthorn teachers agree to modify contract

Teachers and support staff in Hawthorn Elementary District 73 have agreed to accept lower raises as part of a suggested plan to close a projected budget gap of $1.5 million to $2 million.

Seventy-three percent of about 496 members of the Hawthorn Education Association voted Friday to modify the contract, said John Langelund, HEA president. About 280 to 300 of the members are teachers.

As proposed, teachers would remain on the same salary schedule for another year, although step increases would continue. Teacher raises would then average about 3 percent rather than about 5 percent. Stipends and extra pay duty would be frozen.

Union members also include educational support staff, such as aides who work in the classroom, secretaries and custodians, Langelund said.

The adjustment would save the district about $368,000 for teachers next year, according to figures presented by the district. Changes for noncertified staff would save about $67,000.

“Basically, the board is going to look at the whole package,” of suggested savings, Langelund said. “This is just a part of that.”

Administrators will take a 2.5 percent salary increase and other nonunion workers would receive 3 percent, instead of nearly 5 percent, Superintendent Sue Zook said. That would save about $90,000.

The measures would be part of an array of spending cuts and revenue increases proposed to balance the 2011-12 budget in the Vernon Hills-based district.

Increasing various fees, for example, is expected to raise about $200,000.

The financial plan was developed using ideas compiled by the Financial Advisory Task Force, a collaboration of 25 parents, school board members, teachers, administrators and others.

If the school board accepts the suggested salary changes, the union would sign an agreement to make it official. Teachers are in the midst of a five-year contract that runs until 2015.

“The plan as presented right now will not require any teachers to be laid off,” Langelund said.

“The amount (of salary increase) we settled on, it allowed the district to maintain all the current programs,” and not increase class size, he added.

As proposed, the plan envisions eliminating copy, teacher and health clerk jobs. Lunch/recess supervisor positions would be eliminated and put into teacher responsibilities. Those moves combined would save an estimated $465,000.

In a letter to faculty and staff, Zook thanked union leaders for their “openness and honesty” and “forward-looking vision” during the process.

“The past month has been difficult on so many fronts,” she wrote. “No one spent the past month without feeling the effects of information and conversations centering on the development of a plan to address the financial challenges that we are facing.”