District 158 teachers union won't release new proposal

The teachers union in Huntley Unit District 158 said Thursday it would not release its latest contract proposal.

"We want to keep the specific details of the proposals at the bargaining table for fear of damaging an already fragile negotiations process," a Thursday news release from the Huntley Education Association read.

The district, which says the proposal would force deficit spending, pressed the union this week to release the document.

While the union declined to do so, a spokeswoman said union officials agreed with the district's earlier estimate that the new proposal would raise teacher compensation costs by $2.8 million, or 9 percent.

"The district said 2.8 (million) in their last news release, and we do believe that's correct," union spokeswoman Britt Crowe said.

The estimate includes salary, health insurance and retirement benefits - the bulk of the teacher contract cost.

It is not clear if other provisions in the union's proposal, like smaller class sizes, would significantly raise the cost of the proposal.

"The economic proposals that we've been working on just focus on salary, (retirement) and insurance," Crowe said.

Superintendent John Burkey said when other items in the union's offer are factored in, the proposal would be more than 10 percent costlier than the current contract.

"There are other costs in the contract besides the 'big three,' " Burkey said, referring to salary, insurance and retirement benefits.

The district has declined to release the union's latest offer.

"The mediators asked that we refrain from negotiating in public," Burkey said.

The union characterized its latest proposal as an improvement over its initial offer and pushed the district to respond in kind.

"We have made considerable movement from our initial proposal," the union's Thursday release read. "We are still waiting for a reasonable economic proposal from the (Board of Education) and chief negotiator Larry Snow."

The union's initial offer, presented in April, would have raised teacher compensation costs from 24 percent to 29 percent.

Burkey said the district has made a number of counteroffers but would not comment on the specifics of the proposals.

"The board believes the proposal that is put forth to the union is a very reasonable proposal," Burkey said.

Although the union's new proposal is less than half as costly as its initial offer, the district has said the new proposal would still force the district to deficit spend, a charge the union denies.

The sides have been meeting with federal mediators since the beginning of June. The contract expired June 30.