Substantial pay increases for North Chicago School District 187 teachers are part of a plan to reward experienced educators sooner to both help recruit newcomers and retain veterans over the long haul.
When teachers return to the classroom next month, District 187 Superintendent John Price said they will see a paycheck with approximately 24% more compensation than they earned a year ago.
“This is part of our ongoing plan to become more competitive with teacher salaries,” Price said. “Teachers will start seeing larger increases earlier in their careers too.”
The District 187 Board of Education unanimously approved a four-year contract with the Lake County Federation of Teachers Local 504 union Tuesday, July 23 in North Chicago giving raises to both teachers and union members with non-teaching jobs in the schools.
Under the previous agreement, a new teacher with an undergraduate degree started at $41,400 a year and the most experienced instructors could earn $117,000 annually, according to the contract.
When school opens in August, a new teacher starts at $45,000 each year and the maximum pay can reach $131,598 depending on the level of education and years of experience. A 24-year veteran with a master’s degree can earn $100,000 per year.
Once a teacher enters their fifth year, Price said there the pay increases are larger through the eighth year. Under the previous agreement, a fifth-year teacher earned $45,598 with an undergraduate degree. It will now be $50,210 climbing to $54,598 by year eight.
“This is a really important investment in teacher salaries,“ Price said. “We’re doing this because we want them to spend their career here. We want these increases to occur sooner in their career. In years five to nine the steps are much bigger.”
Sydney Ryan, the field service director with the Lake County Federation of Teachers union, said the larger increase in years five through eight was a welcome addition. It will help with both recruiting new teachers and keeping experienced ones
“This salary schedule will help with recruiting and it will help make them North Chicago teachers for life,” Ryan said. “Good teachers like working with good teachers,” she added referring to how it will further help extend time working in the district.
Along with increases in teacher salaries and other workplace changes, Price said the union contract includes all other noncontract workers in the district. Social workers paraprofessionals, nurses and administrative assistants are included and receive increases of approximately 3% a year.
Price said the new contract is an extension of the philosophy expressed when administrators and the union negotiated a three-year pact adopted in 2021. That too was intended to both recruit and retain teachers.
At the end of the 2017-2018 school year, Price said the teacher retention rate was 60.9%. At the close of the 2022-2023 term, it climbed to 84.3%. Final numbers for the past year have not been calculated yet. The goal is 90% including retirements.
“Our effort to increase retention has been very successful the past seven years,” Price said. “Salaries are a big part of it but so is developing a culture and climate where people want to work.”
Ryan said several intangibles were included in the contract designed to make the work environment better such as capping the size of a dual language classroom at 22 students and investing in classroom materials.
“This is really important to our teachers,” Ryan said. “Supports like this were much needed.