U-46 teachers to get 4.2 percent raises

A new contract for Elgin Area School District U-46 teachers provides a slight increase in pay and takes a significant step forward in dealing with class sizes and case loads.

Teachers would receive 4.2 percent raises this year.

All elementary classrooms with 30 or more kids also would get a teaching assistant, according to the tentative agreement reached this week between the Elgin Teachers Association and the district.

The 4.2 percent pay increase includes 3.8 percent across-the-board raises plus a 0.4 percent increase in what the district pays into teacher retirement funds. This would be applied on top of raises for educational advancement and experience awarded annually to teachers.

Unlike the tentative contract rejected Oct. 15 by the union's 2,400 members, the new contract commits to a solid 3.8 percent raise for the 2008-09 school year.

Raises for 2009-10 remain tied to the rate of inflation, and could be between 2.5 percent and 3.8 percent, the contract states.

When put together, the pay raise and increases for experience and education, called step and lane increases, would give the average teacher raises of 6.1 percent in the first year of the contract, 5.7 percent in the second year, and between 4.4 and 5.7 percent in the third year.

The tentative agreement also mandates a teaching assistant for all elementary classes with more than 30 students. The original contract called for a teaching assistant in elementary special-needs classes of 30 and in any other kindergarten-through-sixth-grade classes of 32 or more students.

Class sizes at middle and high schools remain largely unaddressed, with the exception of additional physical education classes at the high school level beginning in January.

Inadequate solutions for class sizes and case loads were found to be the primary reasons the earlier deal was rejected, a survey taken by more than 80 percent of union members revealed.

A class size and case load task force will be established to better look into those issues, the new contract says.

This year, about 12 classrooms throughout all 50 U-46 elementary schools have more than 30 students, according to the district. The largest is a fourth-grade class at Timber Trails Elementary in Hoffman Estates with 33.

Last year, 26 classes had 31 to 33 students.

The union will present the details of the tentative contract agreement to its members Sunday.

Members will vote on the contract at school sites Tuesday.