U-46 teachers approve contract
Teachers in Elgin Area School District U-46 are one step closer to a three-year contract after union members on Wednesday voted in favor of a tentative agreement with the school board.
Members of the Elgin Teachers Association, which represents about 2,200 teachers in the states’ second largest school district, supported the contract for the 2011 to 2014 school years by a 2 to 1 ratio. The results of the vote were 1,225 votes for and 604 votes against the contract, union President Kathryn Castle said in a statement Wednesday.
“I know that this is only a first step in meeting the challenges of our school community,” Castle said in the statement emailed to the Daily Herald Wednesday. “I hope that the collaborative processes in this agreement will strengthen the teachers’ voice in the decisions that affect our students on a daily basis. I hope the Board of Education will approve this agreement and begin the work needed to help our district move forward.”
The school board is now set to ratify the agreement during a closed session on Monday, June 4.
This is the second tentative agreement between the school district and teachers union. In April, teachers overwhelmingly rejected a tentative agreement based on issues including, salary, collaborative time and the length of the school day. Union leaders surveyed members to identify members’ top 10 concerns.
The first vote was 1,319 against and 673 for it. At that time, just 13 of the district’s 60-odd schools voted in favor of the contract. On Wednesday, that result was reversed with 14 of the district’s schools voting against the deal.
When the most recent agreement was reached earlier this month, district officials said the contract addressed the major concerns the union’s bargaining team brought to the negotiating table.
Under the latest agreement, base salary increases of three-quarters of a percent are available in the second and third years of the contract for eligible teachers. Lane and step increases based on years of experience and additional education are available all three years.
The contract is retroactive to June 2011. The previous agreement expired in August 2011. That was a one-year extension of the 2007-2010 contract.
Teacher collaboration time was also modified to reduce the minimum meeting time from the proposed 45 minutes to 30 minutes and outlined which months teachers were expected to meet. Monthly meetings must still add up to 240 minutes.
Furthermore, the union has a full voice in the development and approval of the transformation task force, which will develop a longer school day. The agreement also states that if teachers return to work without a contract for the 2013-2014 school year, the length of the middle school day would match that of the high school’s instead of implementing a default schedule.
The district still may terminate the agreement without notice if the state’s property tax extension law is passed or changes are made to the teacher pension law that would shift the burden of teacher pension payments to the school board.