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District 300 teachers get 4 percent raises

More than 1,400 teachers in Community Unit District 300 will receive 4 percent raises for each of the four years of the contract, which includes 2 percent step and 2 percent base pay increases.

It places the Algonquin-based district within the mid-salary range compared to neighboring school districts and will help with teacher retention and recruitment, officials said.

"We got a fair contract in place," Superintendent Fred Heid said. "It sets the stage for so much potential for us to continue in our efforts to be a great district."

With the pool of students going into education diminishing, the district's salaries needed to be more competitive, Heid said.

"We were closer to the bottom third before ... now we are in a much better place to be competitive to bring back some of those teachers and retain the teachers we have," he added.

The new contract - retroactive to July 1 and running through June 30, 2019, - comes after six months of bargaining.

Officials said both sides wanted a longer contract to provide workforce stability.

Members of the Local Education Association of District 300 (LEAD 300) ratified the agreement last month.

"It was the strongest approval I have ever seen," LEAD 300 President Michael Williamson said. "I've negotiated three contracts. This is the first time ever I can say that LEAD's executive committee and the district's central administration has full trust for one another. Whatever raises we receive has to be sustainable, otherwise we are back here in a couple of years trying to deal with the mess."

The previous three-year contract, which expired June 30, included step increases of 3 percent, 2 percent, and 3 percent on average to the base salary for each of the three school years, respectively. Actual step increases ranged between 1 percent and 6 percent, officials said.

In this new contract, it will cost the district an additional .5 percent to allow for consistent step increases of 2 percent across the board and establish a new tier for teachers with master's degrees who have completed more than 45 hours of additional training in their specialty.

"We did not have a Masters +45 lane in the past," Heid said. "I believe that teachers should be compensated based on their skills and their training. We wanted to have an equitable salary schedule. The reason for the other .5 percent that we included this year was to move people closer to their lane."

Health insurance and other benefits remain unchanged in this contract. Yet, it includes a clause allowing officials to revisit policies, if health insurance premiums skyrocket in future.

"With the Affordable Care Act, if our premiums continue to rise, we did not want to necessarily presume to pass that on to employees," Heid said. "We can take our insurance back out to market or restructure it. We have options should we ever reach that point in the next three to four years."

As a retirement benefit, the contract includes a one-time provision for an additional .5 percent raise above the negotiated salary increase retroactive to the start of the 2015-16 school year.

Also, district nurses will receive tuition reimbursement to become certified.

Officials said the district is in the best financial shape it has been in years to support these contract increases with healthy reserves of nearly $70 million - including an $8 million surplus - and is well above the 25 percent threshold ($57 million or three months worth of operating expenses) set by the board.

"It costs the district 4.5 percent (of operating expenses) to support all these things," Heid said. "We're in a great place, but that's because we were fiscally responsible. This is a much, much better time for our district and our projections for the next few years look good."

The district built up its reserves to brace for potential shortfalls and cost shifting from the state, such as pension penalties and a property tax freeze.

"The benefit of having that reserve threshold is that we don't have to go out for loans every year," Heid said.

If those scenarios don't happen, the surplus funds could be used to support curriculum, professional development and staffing needs, officials said.

The district does not have art teachers in elementary schools or full-time media specialists in every building.

Williamson said officials also could look at class sizes, if there's extra money left over.

"We will come back as a team and see what's feasible and what's going to have the largest impact for the lives of our students," he added.

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