Naperville 203 school board approves four-year contract with teachers
The Naperville Unit District 203 school board has approved a four-year contract with the teachers union that includes pay raises each year, expanded family leave for the adoption of a child, additional sick days for the current school year to account for COVID-19 absences and a one-time $1,000 bonus for every teacher.
The school board approved the contract at Tuesday's meeting, less than a week after the Naperville Unit Education Association announced 86 percent of its members ratified the contract that's retroactive to July 1 and extends through the 2024-25 school year. The union filed an intent-to-strike notice last month, but a tentative contract agreement was reached on Aug. 23 to avoid a strike.
The current school year will see an average raise of 3.6% for teachers and a 2.9% raise next year. In the final two years of the contract, the raise will be based on 67% of the consumer price index.
According to Union President Dan Iverson, the $1,000 payment to each teacher - equating to a total of about $1.4 million - will come from an allotment of federal money related to the pandemic.
"Certainly we didn't get everything we wanted, and neither did the district, but that's the way negotiations work," Iverson said. "After two years of one-year contracts, it's good to have some stability going forward."
One of the major points of conflict between the union and the district was family leave. In addition to the 30 days of paid sick leave allowed by law in the case of adoption, the new contract permits teachers to apply up to 20 additional accumulated sick days.
NUEA members will receive a boost from 15 to 20 sick days this school year only. They'll be allowed to accumulate up to 365 sick days over the course of their career, an increase from 360.
"(The contract) values our highly qualified educators and is financially sustainable, allowing us to work together over the next four years to continue to provide an excellent education for all students while living within our financial means," Naperville 203 Board President Kristin Fitzgerald said in a statement.
Veteran teachers on the highest step of the district's salary schedule at the end of last school year - teachers on Step 22 with a base salary ranging from $107,000 to $122,000 - will shift to a new step to allow salary increases to keep up with inflation. After the first year of the contract, teachers on Step 23 in the previous year will receive an additional "longevity payment" of $900.
The contract also adjusts daily schedules for teachers. Elementary school teachers will have limited meetings to promote planning, middle school teachers will be able to support supervised study times and high school teachers will have adjusted schedules to provide intervention or homeroom support up to two days a week.
"I am grateful for all the work that went into this agreement," District 203 Superintendent Dan Bridges said in a statement, "especially to the members of the NUEA bargaining team and the Naperville 203 administration for their commitment to getting an agreement done."