District 220 OKs new 3-year contract for teachers

Teachers at Barrington Unit School District 220 will get salary raises.

The school board Tuesday approved a three-year teachers contract that gives the nearly 700 teachers in the Barrington Education Association raises of 3.9 percent in the first year, including a 1 percent base raise. The rate of inflation will determine base raises for the remaining two years between 1 percent and 3.75 percent.

On top of the base raise, most teachers will also receive step increases, which reward for experience and level of education. The average step increase is 2.9 percent.

The agreement is retroactive back to Sept. 1 and goes through Aug. 31, 2012. Teachers will receive a lump sum reflecting the raises from the new contract. They have been working under the terms of the old contract.

"There's also, I think, an increased sacrifice on the part of the teachers in this contract," board President Brian Battle said.

For example, teachers will have to pay more out-of-pocket expenses for health care starting in the fall of 2010.

Board members Nicholas Sauer and Jeff Church cast the only votes against the contract. Board member Tim Hull said he supported the contract but abstained, saying he's got a family member who teaches in the district.

Sauer lauded the teachers' efforts and said student test scores show the quality of their performances. But he said he couldn't support the contract because the raises would leave the district financially vulnerable in the coming years. He said the raises would exceed the district's tax revenues.

"I remain unconvinced that the economy of today justifies this course of action," Sauer said of the contract.

Some teachers in neighboring districts, though eligible for step increases, won't get base raises. Teachers in Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 and Township High School District 214 agreed to contracts earlier this year that froze salaries in the first year.

But teachers in Palatine Township Elementary District 15 will receive base increases of .75 percent in their first year. Meanwhile, Maine Township High School District 207 is set to lay off seven administrators, as that district gears up for a $17 million budget shortfall.

Teachers union President Melanie Collins did not comment Tuesday night. The union voted on the contract Monday.

District spokesman Jeff Arnett said the approval of the contract would still keep the district's budget balanced - the board adopted a budget in September based on the previous teachers contract. The school board has made cuts, making the equivalent of layoffs to 13 full-time employees at the end of last school year.

The board and the union in September announced they had enlisted the aid of a federal mediator to assist with negotiations, which had started in May. The last contract gave teachers annual pay raises of more than 5 percent.

Contract: Budget will remain balanced, district says