Union contract amendment allows District 15 to offer more competitive teacher salaries

Palatine Township District 15 and its teachers’ union have agreed to a contract change with more competitive salaries that could attract new teachers and help keep others from leaving the district.

The amendment to the collective bargaining agreement goes into effect in July and expires in 2030.

The new contract has a starting pay for new teachers with no experience of about $42,000 a year, an increase of about $1,000 from the previous contract.

In addition, its provisions include a bump in base salary by 2% for each year, beginning in the 2026-27 school year.

The school board passed the measure Wednesday, while the Classroom Teachers’ Council ratified it on Monday.

Superintendent Laurie Heinz said it “makes the entire salary schedule competitive, so we can attract teachers, pay them a competitive wage, and hopefully they are going to stay.”

Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Lisa Nuss told the school board that the salaries in the nearly 10-year-old collective bargaining agreement are causing the district problems with hiring and retaining teachers.

She said hiring special education teachers, which is legally mandated, has been especially challenging.

This has forced the district to hire contract employees.

“Our budget has had to shoulder the contract agency costs, which have hit in excess of $5.5 million at this point,” she said.

Since that money is already budgeted, it can be used to attract new employees when the more competitive wages take effect.