District 158 teachers ask board for more competitive pay
Several Huntley Community School District 158 teachers asked for higher, more competitive pay and help with health insurance costs during Thursday night's school board meeting.
The district and its teachers union are in mediation over a new teachers contract. The current contract expired June 30.
Several dozen teachers attended, showing support for the union's demands. A few teachers cited salaries not keeping pace with rising health insurance costs as the main reason why many teachers were leaving for neighboring districts.
"We should not have to make a choice between providing the basic necessities for our families, and health care," said James Hotchkiss, an eighth grade teacher at Heineman Middle School who has been with the district 20 years. "We are not asking for free health care, we are asking for fair, equitable distribution of the cost so that we can provide for our families."
The current teachers contract called for yearly step increases of 3.5 percent for each of the three years of the contract; teachers off the salary schedule received a 2 percent yearly increase.
However, that 2 percent increase isn't nearly enough to cover the cost of health insurance premium increases, said Janice Riley, a special education teacher at Marlowe Middle School and a 14-year district employee.
"I am the primary wage earner for my family and we rely on my health insurance benefits," Riley said. "The board's proposed budget would increase my dental payments by 9 percent, my life insurance by 12.45 percent, and my medical insurance by 19.3 percent. That is a total increase of almost $2,000 per year. With the insurance increases the board is proposing, I would need a 2.9 percent salary increase just to break even, after factoring in TRS (Teacher Retirement System) and taxes."
Several teachers asked district officials to share the burden and consider paying a greater percentage toward teachers' health insurance premium costs rather than a flat fee as the district does now.
"Our neighbors, District 300, pay 70 percent of the employee's family health insurance," Riley said. "Batavia and U-46 both pay 90 percent of the cost of family health insurance for their teachers. I'm sorry to say that District 158 pays only 53 percent of family health insurance. So our surrounding districts not only have significantly higher median salaries, and pay much more into the Teacher Retirement System, they also have much better insurance rates."
School board members did not comment at the meeting.
Trustee Michael Fleck, school board vice president and chief negotiator, said earlier the board is open to increasing the base salary to be more competitive, but with state education funding up in the air, the district needs to be conservative with what financial incentives it can offer.
The next mediation session is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 26, coinciding with the first day of classes.
"We are so hopeful that it will get resolved in the next few weeks," said Cindy Rick, spokeswoman for the Huntley Education Association, which represents roughly 700 teachers.
Teachers went on strike for two days in 2008, and were poised to go on strike again during contentious contract negotiations in 2012.
Class size is among the issues being negotiated this time.
"Some of the class sizes of core classes are up to 35 students and that's at the high school," Rick said. "There are some math classes at the elementary schools where there are not enough desks. There's just not enough places to even put the students. That's a big issue and concern."
Rick said the district's special education teachers are being overburdened and overworked. "The caseload that these teachers have is huge," she added.