District 158 teachers ratify new contract

Teachers in Huntley Unit District 158 ratified a new contract Thursday, according to the district's teachers union.

A union spokeswoman said 87 percent of teachers present voted for the agreement.

Teachers were back in school Thursday after a strike canceled classes for three days.

The school board is set to vote on the agreement at 7 p.m. Monday.

The district plans to post the agreement for public review sometime Friday on the district Web site at www.d158.k12.il.us

The deal, reached after a marathon bargaining session that ended at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, increases teacher compensation more than 5.25 percent in each year of the contract, according to board members and union leaders.

The agreement includes a pay raise of 5.25 percent for most teachers in year one and a 3.75 percent salary hike in years two and three.

The difference in years two and three is made up by increases in district contributions to teachers' pensions.

On the first day of classes after the brief teacher strike ended, Superintendent John Burkey expressed relief and pledged the contract would not spell financial peril for the district and its taxpayers.

"We can afford this, we have a balanced budget and kids are back in school," Burkey said. "We are not going to go back for an education fund referendum to the voters."

Burkey said after Thursday's meeting he was referring to the operating funds, which pay teacher salaries and benefits, when he spoke of a balanced budget.

"That's what really matters," Burkey said.

The $83.3 million budget the board approved Thursday shows a $1.7 million deficit overall and a $14,000 surplus in the district's operating funds, which include most of the district's expenses but exclude construction and debt payments.

The budget includes a $1.6 million line item for the teacher contract. That's how much the board said the contract would cost when it made its "last, best and final" offer last month.

At that time, board members said that was all the district could afford this year without breaking the bank.

But the agreement the board and the union reached this week was significantly different from the "last, best and final" offer. In the deal, the board jettisoned salary hikes tied to the rate of inflation for fixed percentages.

Still, it appears the final agreement would not cost much more than the "last, best and final" offer, judging from recent data on the consumer price index, the measure of inflation that would have been used to calculate teachers' raises.

"We are a little bit over," board Vice President Tony Quagliano estimated Thursday.

Quagliano also revealed Thursday the union agreed to drop two labor grievances against the district as part of the deal the sides reached this week.