Citizens Ask District 155 to Reveal Teacher Contract Information
Chris Williams of Grafton-Algonquin-Nunda-Dorr Community Advocates shares a request that Crystal Lake High School District 155 make public details of the most expensive part of the school budget–teacher salaries.
It comes on the rejection of the following Freedom of Information Request:
Chris Williams asks for "a copy of the Board's and IEA's other correspondences related to the teacher's contract under negotiation. Huntley D158 provided this transparency during their teacher's contract negotiation.
Here is District 155′s reply to Williams’ request:
April 27, 2011
Mr. Chris Williams
GAND Community Advocates
3951 Willow View Dr.
Lake in the Hills, IL 60156
crswms@comcast.net
VIA ELECTRONIC MAILRe: Response to FOIA Request – Community High School District 155
Dear Mr. Williams:
This letter is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request
dated April 19, 2011 and received on April 20, 2011 by Community High
School District 155 (“District”). You requested “a copy of the Board’s and IEA’s
offer correspondences related to the teacher ’s contract under negotiation.”
Your request is respectfully denied as records relating to collective negotiating
matters between public bodies and their employees or representatives
are exempt from FOIA (5 ILCS 140/7(p)).Please be aware that our response to your request is pursuant to our understanding of your FOIA request. If we have misunderstood your request, please let us know as soon as possible so we may provide the correct information.
You have a right to have the denial of your request reviewed by the Public Access Counselor (PAC) at the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. 5 ILCS 140/9.5(a). You can file your Request for Review with the PAC by writing to: Public Access Counselor, Office of the Attorney General, 500 South Second St., Springfield, IL 62706.
You also have the right to seek judicial review of your denial by filing a lawsuit
in the McHenry County circuit court (5 ILCS 140/11).If you choose to file a Request for Review with the PAC, you must do so within
60 calendar days of the date of this denial letter. 5 ILCS 140/9.5(a). Please
note that you must include a copy of your original FOIA request and this denial
letter when filing a Request for Review with the PAC.Sincerely,
Jeffrey Puma
Freedom of Information Officer
The follow-up from Williams is below:
Subject: District 155 Teachers Contract Negotiations
Hello,
Thank you for giving our organization a voice in January 2011. GANDCA remains engaged in the D155 budget and taxpayer impact. We believe that our involvement has influenced the board to abate $2.5 million for FY12 in February 2011 from the tax levy, which they unanimously passed on December 14, 2010. It is also worth noting that D155 did not take the legally available 1.6% budget increase for the 2011/2012 school year as many other districts have; saving D155 property taxpayers ~1.2M. To date GANDCA believes that it has influenced a total D155 property taxpayer savings of ~$3.7M.
We have remained abreast of the teachers’ contract negotiations to the best of our ability.
On April 17, 2011, we shared with Jill Hawk our desire to inquire with the board at the forthcoming board meeting on the teachers’ contract negotiations to learn of the progress, any impact that the local and national teacher layoffs has had, as well as, the Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker’s actions on the negotiations. It would be insightful to learn the mood and atmosphere. Jill Hawk has not replied to date.
We submitted the attached FOIAR and received the attached response, which we are inquiring with Lisa Madigan’s office to learn if D155 correctly interpreted the law.
We urge D155 to make the teachers’ contract negotiation dialog/offer public just as D158 did the last time around.
The public deserves to know how our school board proposes to spend out tax dollars, especially since District 155 teachers are already the highest paid in McHenry County.
The current economic and political environment is conducive to negotiate anything but the status quo contracts of the past.
The record property tax appeals are proof that the property taxes that support D155 are at the tipping point; D155 employees are included in those that appealed.
We are in the process of identifying all D155 employees that have filed for a 2010 property tax appeal with McHenry.
Please share if you are interested in meeting.
Chris Williams, President
GAND Community Advocates
3951 Willow View Drive
Lake In The Hills, IL 60156
847.340.8531
So who is coughing up the money for the TEACHERS PORTION of the contribution to TRS? The 9.4% we hear all about.
Is it actually the taxpayers paying that 9.4%?
Even if it’s buried in the salary schedule, wouldn’t it be a “thrill” to know if this is considered board paid?
Was this negotiated so that the District picks up even the 9.4%.
Here’s a raise, there’s a raise, everywhere a raise raise.
Someone from the District who is actually watching what is going on and who is on the taxpayers’ side, please advise as to what you find/found.
1Dee and Alan –
Good point.
The collective bargaining agreement for District 155 includes two base salary schedules.
One salary schedule does not contain the TRS contribution. $43,697 starting pay.
The other salary schedule contains the TRS contribution. $48,019 starting pay.
http://www.d155.org/Documents/TeachContract08-11Add1011.pdf.
Yes the district is paying the employee contribution to TRS, but at least they are clearly disclosing this fact.
I wonder about healthcare benefits. How much are teachers and administrators paying for healthcare in terms of payroll deductions, co-pays, and deductibles, and how generous are the benefits, both when actively teaching and in early retirement. A call to the District 155 HR office might yield some results, but you might have to do a FOIA with very specific questions to receive the complete information.
You may be wondering how much administrators are earning. The following link reveals administrative salaries and the district budget. These items can be found on the right hand side of the following link.
http://www.d155.org/employment.htm
FYI, IL state law requires districts to post the Collective Bargaining Agreements and Administrative salaries on their website. Sometimes they are hard to find, in which case you can contact the school district office.
I wonder if District 155 teachers and administrators who have put in their notice to retire paperwork are receiving the suburban Chicago standard 6% annual salary increase, for the last four years of their career, even as other teachers and administrators are receiving little or no pay raises. A FOIA could reveal that, or maybe even a simple call to the District 155 HR office.
2From the above information, one has to wonder how teachers and administrators have achieved such generous compensation. It’s clear the unions are doing a far better job than taxpayers in advocating for their cause. Unions are heavily involved in politics at the local school board, state government, and federal government levels. They have lobbyists, update their members on their website and via phone, email, and regular mail, provide form letters with talking points to their members, and encourage their members to contact their legislators.
School Districts and boards (school management) have lobbyists at the state and federal level which keep them updated on proposed legislation.
Although it’s easy and in many cases justifiable to fault politicians, the taxpayers could be doing much more. How many residents regularly attend the bi-weekly school board meetings? In my school district the answer is three. How many parents keep up with the myriad of proposed legislation at the state and federal level, and then contact their state and federal legislators to advocate for legislation that benefits their children? I don’t know anyone who does that on a regular basis.
3To learn what the labor union perspective of school legislation, you can visit their websites.
Illinois Education Association (IEA): http://www.ieanea.org
National Education Association (NEA): http://www.nea.org
note: IEA is the Illinois affiliate of NEA.
Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT): http://www.ift-aft.org
American Federation of Teachers (AFT): http://www.aft.org
note: IFT is the Illinois affiliate of AFT.
Your local teacher union website:
http://www.ieanea.org/local/d155
But it’s password protected.
The vast majority of all unionized school districts in the United States are either an NEA or AFT affiliate. District 155 is an NEA affiliate.
4To learn the school administration perspective of school legislation, you can visit their website.
Illinois Association of School Boards
http://www.iasb.com
Read the monthly “Newsbulletin” and weekly “Alliance Legislation Report”.
Other good sources of information about school legislation follow.
Blog of state politics (leans pro-union): http://www.capitolfax.com
5Taxpayer watchdog: http://www.familytaxpayers.org
Illinois State Board of Education: http://www.isbe.net
This blog: http://www.MchenryCountyBlog.com
Following is the internet location of the Collective Bargaining Agreement for Community High School District 155 (CHSD 155). CHSD 155 contains the following high schools: Cary-Grove High School (Cary), Crystal Lake Central High School (Crystal Lake), Crystal Lake South High School (Crystal Lake), and Prairie Ridge High School (Crystal Lake).
http://ww2.d155.org/Documents/Employment/TeacherContract.pdf
Alternatively, you can visit http://www.d155.org, select “Human Resources”, then select “Current Teacher’s Contract”.
The name of the local teacher union is “High School District 155 Education Association” which is an affiliate of the IEA, which in turn is an affiliate of the NEA, as explained above.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement is the teacher contract.
The agreement is for the term July 1, 2011 – June 30, 2013.
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