U-46 freezes salaries of administrators, nonunion workers

Elgin Area School District U-46 teachers aren't the only ones having their pay frozen next year.

In step with this week's formal approval of the Elgin Teachers' Association's one-year contract, officials announced that administrators and nonunion employees will join teachers in going without raises this year.

In addition, Superintendent Jose Torres sent district administrators an e-mail announcing they "will begin paying for dental benefits effective July 1."

An expected salary freeze for a majority of district employees - including teachers and administrators - was built into Chief Financial Officer Ron Ally's tentative Fiscal Year 2011 budget.

During a presentation in late April, Ally told the school board that the district is planning a $464.5 million budget for fiscal year 2011 - a $27.3 million decrease from this year.

Ally predicts U-46 will begin next fiscal year with a $41.3 million deficit in its three major operating funds, and end with a $62 million shortfall.

The tentative budget makes several major assumptions, including major cuts in general state aid and categorical funding. The precise dollar amount of cuts may change in coming months, depending on how the education funding pie ultimately is sliced by lawmakers.

On the expenditure side, the budget assumes no base salary, step or lane increases for teachers; no raises for administrators and nonunion employees for the second consecutive year; and a 9 percent increase in health premiums for the district.

The district plans to spend $16.2 million less in salaries and $10.1 million less in benefits.

Having district administrators pay for dental insurance is expected to save $129,000, according to estimates.

However, Torres wrote in the e-mail, the district does intend to reinstate a $3,000 stipend for administrators who have earned their doctorates. Less than a handful of administrators qualify, spokesman Tony Sanders said.

"It's a way for us to encourage employees to get advanced degrees," he said.

Similarly, despite a freeze to teachers' base salaries and "step" raises for years' experience in the district, "lane" increases - raises for earning additional degrees - remain in place.

"These decisions are not easy to make," Torres wrote. "It is natural for employees to perceive their "value" based on the pay they receive."