Dist. 204 teachers to get roughly 4 percent raises

Indian Prairie teachers are in line for an average 3.87 percent pay raise in the coming school year, officials said Monday.

The raises are part of a tentative one-year contract agreement reached last week between Unit District 204 and its teachers union.

Union members are scheduled to vote Friday to ratify the pact and, if that happens, the school board likely would approve it next week.

The pact includes a 2 percent raise on top of the yearly step increases teachers normally receive for additional training or education.

The Daily Herald revealed the basics of the agreement last week, but at that time administrators and union officials refused to discuss how much the combined raises and step increases would mean for the average teacher.

On Monday, officials put that figure at 3.87 percent.

Superintendent Stephen Daeschner has said both parties agreed to a one-year contract because of the uncertainty over the state of the economy.

The district's revenues are capped at the Consumer Price Index, which will be 4.1 percent for the next fiscal year but then will drop to 0.1 percent in 2010.

Daeschner said the one-year agreement allows the district to address the volatility of the economy and the drop in the index that will occur next year.

In a statement released Monday afternoon, five days after the tentative agreement initially was hammered out, Daeschner said the pact is fiscally responsible and allows Indian Prairie to remain competitive with neighboring districts of similar size.

"Our four bench mark districts are providing a range of 3.8 percent to 4.2 percent increases in teachers' salaries for next year," he said. "Staying competitive to retain our quality teachers is critical to our children's success."

Indian Prairie Education Association President Val Dranias also has said both sides were "aware" of the current economic climate.

As part of the agreement, teachers will be required to participate in a weekly staff training session focused on school improvement before school each Wednesday.

Elementary teachers will have 75 minutes and middle and high school teachers will have 50 minutes before school. During this time, teachers will work on increasing student performance through improved instruction.

To accommodate the weekly teacher training time, the start of school will be adjusted each Wednesday next year as follows: elementary school start times will move from 9:05 to 9:15 a.m.; middle school from 8 to 8:20 a.m.; and high school from 7:25 to 7:45 a.m. Bus pick up times on Wednesday mornings will move by 10 minutes for elementary and 20 minutes for middle and high school to accommodate the delayed start.

The existing contract, scheduled to expire Aug. 25, affects 2,155 teachers in 31 schools in the district that covers portions of Naperville, Aurora, Plainfield and Bolingbrook.

Signed three years ago, that contract provided salary increases of 4.4 percent in 2006, 4.2 percent in 2007 and 3.9 percent in 2008.

Under that agreement, the starting salary for a teacher with a bachelor's degree and no experience was $39,225. A teacher with a master's degree plus 60 hours of additional college credit and 23 years experience makes $95,796.

The district also is negotiating a contract with its support staff. That group's three-year deal expires in April and included a 5.15 percent increase in salary and benefits for 2006-07, a 4.11 percent increase for 2007-08 and a 4.02 percent increase for 2008-09.