The District 87 school board approved a new three-year contract with the Bloomington Education Association teachers’ union on Wednesday.
Both the school board and the Bloomington Education Association stated they are pleased to have reached an agreement before the school year started.
Bloomington Education Association President Julie Riley said in her 29 years she cannot recall having a contract settled so early in the process.
“We felt the team you sent listened to us, listened to our concerns,” she told the board. “I think both sides would agree we found ways to solve some problems that would create better working conditions for adults, that would make it easier for you to recruit and retain quality employees to work with us, and that serves all of our kids. So, thank you.”
Notable changes in the new contract include changes to the compensation package, including 2.5% raises each year. The new contract puts District 87’s starting teacher salary at $40,183 for 2021-2022, rising to $42,217 by 2023-24.
District 87 Superintendent Barry Reilly said getting ahead of the state’s minimum salary requirement for new teachers was one of the top priorities.
“We wanted something that is going to make us very competitive with other districts. We knew we had to get our initial salary to the $40,000 thresholds by 2024 and we wanted to get ahead of that,” said Reilly.
Other changes also include protecting more teachers and staff planning time from being disrupted and changes to how specialty employees are compensated.
Riley, the BEA president, said the union is very conscious of the fiscal limitations the district faces.
“We don’t ask for anything they cannot afford. But we also understand that our members have had to do a lot of extra things, that this profession, in general, is a lot of extra things,” said Riley. “So, in order to retain and recruit quality educators for the families in this community they need to be well compensated, or folks will go elsewhere.”
Reilly said the relationship between the district and union is in a very positive place.
“That’s a direct result of that process we just went through with them to problem solve and get to a place where we were able to address the problems that exist, things that were important to them, and things that were important to us, and that’s hard to do in this environment,”he said.
He also noted approval of this contract will not impact taxpayers because the board has been able to build up fund balances, adding the district has prepared for deficit times without raising the tax rate.
