Salaries and Benefits and the Kitchen Sink

Today Bongo will look at the compensation package being sought by the negotiation team which represents the Huntley Education Association (HEA).

Bongo prefaces this post with the following comment:

Bongo believes the teachers deserve a raise that is higher than the CPI or “cost of living.” Bongo believes salaries for District 158 teachers are too low today. Bongo thinks that a portion of a teacher’s pay should be tied to performance. A few bad apples don’t spoil the whole bunch…”

Having said that, in this day when people are losing jobs left and right and the word “raise” is a rarity, Bongo about rolled over and played dead for real when he read what the teachers union negotiators have proposed. They have tried to make their request sound reasonable, but any way you slice it, they are asking for huge raises next year when you add salary, Teacher Retirement System (TRS) payments and insurance premiums together. By the way, TRS is a teacher’s version of social security. They pay into it during their teaching years, and upon retirement they receive payments. Teachers don’t receive social security.

The big question mark over the entire proposal is how it would be funded. Because quite frankly, what they’re asking for exceeds available and projected income. Negotiator and kindergarten teacher Christy Henderson must have been doing some kooky kindergarten math when she considered how the increases would be funded.

There are a lot of variables that go into a teacher’s total compensation, so Bongo is providing two examples of two very different teachers to prove his point:

Teacher #1: Master’s degree +45 (additional hours of education after the master’s)

This year that very experienced teacher earns $80,869. Assuming that teacher was on the family insurance plan, he/she also got about $7,000 of the approximate $16,000 insurance premium paid by the district. This year the district paid $0 toward TRS. So all told, Teacher #1’s compensation this year is about $87,869.

Under the teachers union negotiators’ proposal, that teacher will make $88,150 next year in salary alone. On top of that, the teacher would get 90% of the $16,000 insurance premium paid by the district ($14,400, up from $7,000). In addition, that teacher would receive 100% of its TRS premium paid by the district, which is roughly 10.5% of their salary.

This year: $87,869
Next year: $111,806

Additional Compensation: $23,937

At the end of the day, Teacher #1 would receive a 27% increase in compensation next year. Are you getting a 27% raise in compensation next year? Does your employer pay 100% of your social security? I didn’t think so.

Think it’s an anomaly? Let’s look at a teacher on the other end of the experience/pay scale.

Teacher #2: Bachelor’s degree and three years of experience

This year that relatively new teacher earns $37,158. Like with teacher #1, the district paid $7,000 toward their $16,000 family insurance premium. With nothing paid by the district toward TRS, Teacher #2’s compensation this year is about $44,158.

Under the teachers union negotiators’ proposal, that teacher will make $41,111 next year in salary alone. Add in the 10.5% for TRS payments and the additional money toward insurance premiums for the family insurance, and things start to get really interesting.

This year: $44,158
Next year: $59,828

Additional Compensation: $15,670


Based on the union negotiating team's proposal, this teacher is looking at a whopping 35%+ increase in compensation next year. Bongo says, "sign me up!"

As if the increases in compensation listed above were not enough to make the district negotiators want to take their squeaky ball and go home, the teachers would get even more money next year based on a proposal for “overload” pay for each student over a certain number that is assigned to a class. The union negotiators would like teachers to get an additional $400 for each student above stated maximum class sizes. The negotiators’ proposal for maximum class sizes is as follows:

K: 18
1: 19
2: 20
3-5: 22
Middle/High School: 24
Fine Arts/Exploritories: 25
Middle/High School Music: TBD
Middle/High School PE: 35

Did Bongo mention that Union Co-President and negotiation team member Christy Henderson is a kindergarten teacher? Hmmm.

While wonderfully low, the class sizes recommended by the union negotiating team would cost the district big bucks. Bongo thinks it would not be hard for a teacher to get an additional $2,000 under this scenario.

The proposal also gives additional money to teachers when there are payroll department errors or if payments to certain agencies are not made on time.

The list goes on and on, but Bongo thinks you get his point.

Wait until tomorrow when you see how much LESS work the union leadership wants the teachers to do in exchange for getting all of this extra cash!