Dist. 59 administrators get 2.5 percent pay hike

The Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59 school board has approved a 2.5 percent increase in pay for all administrative and nonunion staff.

Nonunion staffers also will begin making a 4 percent contribution to their medical and dental insurance premiums in fiscal year 2010-11, which began July 1.

All the increases are retroactive, said district spokeswoman Betsy Boswell.

"This is probably the lowest increase in compensation we've had for a while, and it's because the economy is bad," she said.

Last year, administrative and nonunion staff - about 75 employees out of the district's 800-plus staff - got a 3 percent increase, she said. The pay increase in 2008, 2007 and 2006 was 5.7 percent each year, she said.

The board voted to increase nonunion employees' contributions to health insurance premiums, which were previously fully funded by the district, to mirror the contract negotiated earlier this summer with members of the District 59 Education Association, said Superintendent Dan Schweers.

The new three-year collective bargaining contract, approved by the board in June, stipulates pay increases under 1 percent each year, and a 4 percent contribution to health insurance premiums for union members.