Many community members have asked why the GEA did not accept the Board's most recent proposal. Here is a full explanation why.

 

The Two Biggest Reasons Why:

 

In this situation it is important to every GEA member that our community understands why we did not accept the Board's proposal presented to the GEA on Wednesday, November 28th.

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1. The need for a traditional step and lane salary schedule:  We have gone to great lengths to explain why the Traditional Step and Lane Salary Schedule is critical to the success of educators and their students in Geneva Schools. It is also true that every other district in Kane County uses this type of schedule. The Board has proposed a schedule, but it is not a traditional step and lane schedule, which Geneva has used for more than 50 years. It would be a switch to an untested model for determining salaries. The GEA has no interest in trying out this new approach.

2. Equity in raise allocation: The Board proposal gives a much higher percent raise to newer educators, while giving smaller percent raises to experienced educators. The district has communicated that the base salary will increase by 17% over the four years of the contract. Over the same four year period, the ending salary on the Board’s Hybrid Schedule would only increase by 1.2%. Look at those numbers again, 17% increase on the beginning salary and 1.2% (not a typo!) increase for the ending salary over the four years in the Board’s proposed schedule. To be clear, both the old and new salary schedules end at 22 years of experience. Every teacher who has been teaching beyond 22 years enters what is called longevity and gets a basic cost of living raise.

 

Please take the time to read through our full explanation of why a traditional step and lane salary schedule is important by clicking here. If you only have a minute, here is why we believe this salary model is important.

 

• It Encourages Collaboration- Young educators need time to master their craft. They need support and guidance from experienced educators. Having a compensation model that encourages collaboration is critical.

• It Does Not Create Winners and Losers With Compensation- The Traditional Step and Lane Salary Schedule rewards educators appropriately throughout their career.  This is why the most experienced teachers make the most money. They are being rewarded not just for the experience they bring to the classroom, but for the colleagues that they mentor.

• It Encourages Educators to Stay in Geneva-  Educators who feel appreciated and rewarded throughout their career are educators who will put down roots and stay in Geneva. Our students deserve the benefit of learning from experienced educators. The Board states that they want to “attract and retain” quality teachers, but their proposed Hybrid Model only attracts new teachers. It does not provide the financial incentive to retain them for the life of their career.

 

The GEA was happy that this was the Board’s first proposal that agreed to put an end to the “Lane Governor.” This was a provision from 2012 that delayed teachers from realizing the financial benefits of the work they did to attain an advanced degree. The GEA agreed to the “Lane Governor” in 2012 to help the district manage its debt. The debt has now been reduced. No other surrounding district has had a “Lane Governor” like this.

 

The BOE’s proposal also does not address the following GEA concerns:

• Insurance: Currently, Geneva teachers pay more money into their insurance premium than any other Kane County school district.

• Stipends: At no point during the Board’s four-year proposal would they raise the compensation for teachers who lead sports and activities outside of school.

• Summer pay: The Board’s proposal did not fulfill the GEA’s request to raise summer school and curriculum-writing pay. This pay has not increased for decades.

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