U-46 teachers approve one-year contract deal

Elgin Area School District U-46 teachers voted to accept a one-year deal that would leave salaries flat and increase class sizes, officials announced Wednesday.

Elgin Teachers Association President Tim Davis said roughly 66 percent of the union's 2,500 members chose to vote at school sites Tuesday.

Of those votes, 1,190 teachers were in favor of the contract; 587 were against.

Davis said he was pleased that teachers ratified the contract, reached after six expedited bargaining sessions in April and May. He also acknowledged the agreement "takes into account what we're facing. The district is cash-strapped."

According to the agreement, teachers would receive no base salary increase or step increase for years of experience in the district next year. Lane increases - raises given to teachers who have earned additional degrees - would remain in place. Benefit contributions would remain flat.

All elementary classrooms with 35 or more kids would get a teaching assistant, up from 30 in the 3-year contract that expires this summer. Bilingual classes, capped by state law at 90 percent of the district's average class size, are entitled to a teachers aide if they have 32 or more kids.

The reduction in the number of teacher's aides by 180 will save the district roughly $6.5 million, district spokesman Tony Sanders said. Allowing larger class sizes without an aide is also expected to reduce the number of split-grade classes.

Cutting the number of clerical aides, used to help teachers prepare classroom materials, by 50 percent in the elementary, middle and high schools is expected to save another $650,000.

Neither teacher's aides or clerical aides are members of the teachers union.

Long-term substitutes will be paid $172 per day - a $3 decrease from this year's rates.

U-46, which expects to begin next year with at least a $41 million deficit, announced $29.6 million in cuts March 15. They included layoffs for more than 1,000 employees - 732 of them teachers. That number included all first-, second- and third-year teachers, as well as more than 70 tenured teachers.

The district intentionally made more cuts than necessary to pad itself against funding uncertainties.

The district already began calling back 200 teachers last Friday and intends to call back another 100 beginning June 1. That doesn't guarantee that all 300 will find slots, because some may not be qualified to fill the openings.

With the state's budget still unknown, Superintendent Jose Torres said it is too early to tell how many teaching jobs the new contract might save. Teachers who are retiring or leaving the district for different jobs also will affect the total.

However, district lawyer Pat Broncato noted, the new deal will help the district get a firmer handle on next year's expenditures.

The school board is scheduled to vote on the contract June 7.

"We look forward to having the discussion and coming to some resolution," school board President Ken Kacyznski said, "so we can move forward to reassemble the school district as best we can."