The Examiner U-46 News Feed

Union pact, new treasurer approved by District U-46

By Seth Hancock
  School District U-46 has extended the teacher’s union contract for a year while a new treasurer was appointed.
  The Board of Education voted 7-0 on both items at a February meeting.
  Trisha Olson, chief legal officer, said the Elgin Teacher’s Association (ETA) contract provides a 5.6 percent increase in new funds, or $12.4 million. There’s a 1.25 percent increase in base pay to $51,901 total, teachers will receive a $1,000 recognition stipend and teachers in Step T, Lane 8 will receive a 5 percent match from the district to their 403b, a 1 percent increase from the previous contract.
  There’s “a change in the treatment for prior experience credit on the salary schedule for newly hired teachers,” Olson said. “The agreement provides for those new hires to receive one half credit of experience without limit rounding up for previous years of experience.”
  Olson added: “Prospective and retrospective for the 21-22 school term, stipend for teachers that planned and prepared teaching in a split overload classroom. The stipend is the equivalent of 15 hours of planning time per month over a 10-month period for an amount equal to 150 hours of planning time, compensated at the contractual rate of play.”
  There are changes to ETA recognition at board meetings and prioritizing the elimination of splits for first through third grade teachers.
  The board also appointed Ann Williams as the district’s treasurer. Williams is the district’s new deputy superintendent for operations and chief school business official, replacing Jeff King who left the district last summer.
  The board had appointed Superintendent Tony Sanders as treasurer last June after King left. Having the superintendent as treasurer weakens internal controls which Sarah Boyce, associate director of education for the ACT, said such conflicts can make it easier to “commit and conceal fraud or errors in the usual course of their duties.”