News Releases
District 15 Postpones Annual Salary Increase for Teachers and Certified Staff as Negotiations with Federal Mediator Continue
The District 15 Board of Education announced today it will postpone the annual salary adjustment for teachers and certified staff members as it continues to negotiate with the Classroom Teacher’s Council (CTC) under the guidance of a federal mediator. Traditionally, the District’s annual salary adjustments are reflected in the first payroll of the academic year, which will occur next week on September 15.
CTC, the bargaining unit that represents District 15’s 772 teachers and certified staff members, was notified by the Board in January of this year that it would not extend the terms of the contract past the August 31 expiration date. This notification was provided consistent with the terms specified in the negotiating agreement between the District and CTC in force at that time.
President Nancy Lee Carlson stated the Board’s position that, among other concerns, “it would be fiscally irresponsible to make salary adjustments at this time since this issue has yet to be resolved at the bargaining table.”
Carlson emphasized that, once a new contract has been secured, the new compensation structure will be implemented in a manner that ensures that all teachers and certified staff members receive their full salary increase based on the terms of the new negotiated agreement.
Since last fall, negotiating teams for District 15 and CTC met on approximately 25 occasions, totaling more than 125 hours. Just before the end of the 2005-06 academic year, the Board requested that the services of a mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) be engaged to advance the District’s efforts to reach a new multiyear contract agreement with the CTC prior to the expiration of the current contract.
While initially opposing mediation, CTC finally agreed to the Board’s mediation request on August 4, just one business day before State law would have required the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB) to mandate mediation. Since that time, the Board and CTC negotiating teams have met under the guidance of a FMCS mediator on four occasions, with another session scheduled for the evening of Monday, September 11.
“In proposing mediation so early, the Board had truly hoped that we would have had a negotiated agreement in place prior to the August 31 expiration of our contract with CTC. It’s unfortunate that, in delaying the start of mediation, we now have to confront this circumstance,” said Carlson, referencing the decision to postpone the salary adjustments.
Compensation will be a particularly critical component addressed by the parties in upcoming negotiating sessions with the mediator. Teacher compensation generally has three components: base pay, experience pay (also known as “step”) and educational pay (also known as “lane”). As a result of base pay, step and lane increases, the average salary for District 15 teachers during the 2005-06 academic year increased 7.13 percent, with some teachers receiving as much as 8.86 percent. In addition to these average percentages, many teachers also received the aforementioned “lane” pay for educational advancement—often resulting in pay increases of more than 10 percent, with the highest receiving a 15.93 percent increase. These numbers do not reflect additional increases for eligible retiring teachers.
Updated information on the status of District 15’s negotiations with CTC will be available on the District’s Web site, www.ccsd15.net.
Community Consolidated School District 15 is the third largest elementary school district in Illinois, serving nearly 13,000 students in all or part of the communities of Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Inverness, Arlington Heights, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg and South Barrington.
Elementary schools in the District include Central Road School, Frank C. Whiteley School, Gray M. Sanborn School, Hunting Ridge School, Jane Addams School, Kimball Hill School, Lake Louise School, Lincoln School, Marion Jordan School, Pleasant Hill School, Stuart R. Paddock School, Thomas Jefferson School, Virginia Lake School, Willow Bend School, and Winston Campus–Elementary.
In addition, the District has four junior high schools, including Carl Sandburg Junior High, Plum Grove Junior High, Walter R. Sundling Junior High and Winston Campus–Junior High, and an alternative school, John G. Conyers Learning Academy.
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