Niles Township High School District 219 teachers and support staff are starting off the school year with a new contract that guarantees raises for the next four years, smaller classroom sizes and improved benefits.
The Board of Education approved the teachers’ contract at its meeting on Sept. 10. According to district documents Pioneer Press obtained through an open records request, teachers will receive a 4.4% raise for the 2024-2025 school year, a 4% raise in the 2025-2026 school year, and a 3.75% raise in each of the following school years, 2026-2027 and 2027-2028, according to the district’s Executive Director of Human Resources and Legal Services Ray Chung.
Support staff will receive raises of 5% for the 2024-2025 school year (except for new employees, who will not see a raise this year), a 4.75% raise in the 2025-2026 school year and a 4% raise in the each of the following school years: 2026-2027 and 2027-2028.
“There is a renewed sense of optimism in our schools that we haven’t felt in many years,” said Caitlin Sweeney, vice president of the Niles Township Federation of Teachers and Support Staff, the union representing the district’s teachers and staff. She spoke at the Board meeting during public comment with Matthew Fahrenbacher, a Niles West teacher and president of the union.
“Our newest staff greatly appreciates the district’s investment in them through their salaries and tuition reimbursement program,” Fahrenbacher said.
“Especially support staff who have stated they now make a livable wage and feel more valued as a member of the District 219 family,” Sweeney added.
The district’s previous contract, approved in 2021 and expiring on July 1, was approved in a narrow 3-2 vote. Then, co-president of the union Laureen Hall said the wage increases were the lowest possible acceptable by the union’s members “because of our sensitivity to how the community would be impacted.”
According to district documents, support staff will equally split an annual $50,000 pot for tuition reimbursements. There is no limit to how many support staff employees can apply for tuition reimbursement, Chung said. Employees must stay for a minimum of two years or pay 50% of the funds if they stay for one year. If an employee leaves in under one year, the employee will pay 100% of the reimbursement. In the previous contract, teachers and staff split $30,000.
Chung said the district has yet to calculate what the tuition reimbursement will be for teachers this year, in part because teachers usually don’t make requests for tuition reimbursement until the second semester of school.
The maximum occupancy for regular classrooms was set at 26 students, down from 28 in the prior contract, and for AP and Honors classes at 26 students, down from 27 in the prior contract.
Maternity and paternity leave was lengthened to 12 weeks paid time off, where it had been six weeks paid time off and six weeks unpaid in the prior contract.
“Expecting mothers and fathers have literally been in tears realizing that they now can spend up to 12 weeks bonding with their new babies,” Fahrenbacher said.
The Board of Education approved the contract in a 5-1 vote, with Board Member Joseph Nowik voting against it and Board Member David Ko absent.