Springfield-area teachers, staff get pay bump under new contract

The Ball-Chatham Board of Education last week unanimously approved a three-year teachers contract hammered out after four months of negotiation.

Ball-Chatham Education Association (BCEA) members ratified the agreement with an 85.4% favorable vote in late July.

The current contract expires Aug. 15, just after students come back for the school year.

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Federal mediators were called in for the last couple of sessions.

The contract covers more than 300 certified staff members, including teachers, counselors, the head librarian, instructional coaches, instructional technology coordinators, speech and language pathologists, social workers, psychologists and the certified school nurse.

The district has over 4,600 students in pre-kindergarten through high school.

Here's a look at some key points of the contract:

Salaries

Certified staff members will receive a 4% raise and an average of a 1.87% step for a total average raise of 5.87% annually for the period of the contract.

Insurance

All staff members who elect insurance coverage will receive $950 in Year 1, $975 in Year 2 and $1,000 in Year 3 in Board dollars toward their premium. The $1,125,000 increase in Board dollars represents a 26.67% increase in Year 1 and up to a 33% increase by Year 3 of the contract, based on today’s insurance offerings.

Compensation

The step scale was modified to provide greater equity and recognize the hard work of teachers at the beginning, middle and end of their careers. The scale for extracurricular and athletic stipend was raised in Years 2 and 3 of the contract, and the district will pay the employee TRS contribution for extracurricular/athletic activities.

Working conditions

Topics related to safety, time off, bereavement leave and professional development were addressed in the contract.

What the school board is saying

“A compromise was reached due to a commitment on all sides,” board president Tiffani Saunders said. “This contract represents the board’s commitment to responsible fiscal leadership of the district while also showing support and appreciation for the outstanding work of our teachers.”

What the teachers union is saying

"We're pleased that we were able to come to an agreement before school started so our teachers could start the year with a current contract, (but) it wasn't a very easy bargain," said Julie McAllister, the union president and a school counselor in the district. "The one thing we were disappointed that wasn't included in this contract was class size language (K-5). (The district) didn't follow their policy in multiple instances."

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie .

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield-area teachers, staff get pay bump under new contract