Dist. 118 votes to freeze certain 2010-11 salaries

Wauconda Unit District 118 nonunion staff and full-time administrators will not receive raises next year in an attempt to minimize the district's projected $2.2 million deficit.

The school board unanimously voted Thursday to freeze compensation for the 2010-11 school year at the 2009-10 school year rates. The freeze will affect part-time and seasonal personnel, educational support personnel, nonunion support staff and supervisors, and full-time administrators.

"The salaries are still the same, and with the increase of the health insurance costs, most administrators are going to take a salary cut," Superintendent Dan Coles said.

The state imposed a 0.04 percent increase in Teachers Health Insurance System contributions for next year. The board will pay $731 total toward THIS for administrators not on multiyear retirement contracts.

The board approved the salary freeze in March as a part of overall cost-cutting measures for next year. The freeze, in addition to other cuts, is expected to reduce the budget deficit by about $1.5 million.

Although they said it was necessary, some board members were not happy with keeping salaries the same for two years in a row.

"As we sat here and voted on all these freezes, I was thinking about it and just how much it stinks for us to be in that position," board member Thomas Weber said. "I realize everybody else is, too, but it's not something I'm happy about."

Coles said teachers' contracts will expire after the 2010-11 school year, and unionized support staff contracts will expire after the 2011-12 school year. At these times, the district will negotiate with the unions for compensation changes, he said.