Rockford teachers to present final contract offer after 9 months of negotiations

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
Get our free e-newsletter

ROCKFORD — Rockford Public Schools teachers are preparing to put forward their final labor contract offer after the union and the district have been unable to come to terms following nine months of negotiations.

The district presented its last best final offer to the union last week, effectively giving teachers until Christmas Day to have their final offer on the table. The offers are designed to be the last stages of negotiation. If terms can’t be reached, it could move teachers closer to a strike vote, although the union says that is a last resort.

“That is the last possible option,” Claudia Marshall, president of the Rockford Education Association, told the Rock River Current. “Do we still hope that doesn’t happen, absolutely. … None of this is taken lightly, this is extremely serious, but this union will do whatever it has to do to get a fair contract.”

The two sides final offers are expected to be posted to the state’s Educational Labor Relations Board site as soon as Friday.

The district and the union have been meeting since March to try to reach a new contract. The previous four-year agreement expired on June 30.

The district has declined any comments until after the final offers are posted.

“We remain focused on the process, because that’s where real solutions happen. Once both the REA’s last best offer and the district’s last best offer are publicly available, we will offer media availability. We want to ensure everyone has access to the full facts before engaging in broader conversations,” the district said in a statement. “Our priority continues to be a fair, responsible agreement that supports our students, staff, and schools.”

Related: Rockford’s new school superintendent says his ‘ultimate goal’ is teaching third grade again

Marshall said gains have been made during the long negotiation process, but there are still several sticking points on salaries, retirement, health insurance, and the special education workload and caseload. Staffing issues and shortages have left teachers burned out from taking on extra classes, filling in as substitutes and taking on extra cases for special education, several teachers said during a packed Board of Education meeting last week.

“The students’ learning conditions are the teachers’ working conditions, and when those working conditions aren’t safe, aren’t organized, aren’t led well, that trickles right down to students not getting the services they need and the education they’re deserved,” Marshall said Tuesday.

Teachers have said that salaries have not kept pace with inflation, and the district trails the salaries of many of its comparable peers.

“It’s not just a national teacher shortage, it’s a very impactful Rockford teacher shortage,” Marshall said. “We believe if they would be more comparable to the district’s around us and a little higher in market value we could have some of these positions filled even in this teacher shortage.”

The starting salary for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree in the expired contract is $47,968, when including teacher retirement contributions paid by the district. The contract has steps built in based on classroom experience, continued education and graduate-level credit hours earned. At the highest end of the pay scale, a teacher with a master’s degree, more than 20 years experience and 40-plus graduate-level credits could earn $100,912, according to the contract.

In Elgin, one of the eight districts used as a comparable in contract negotiations, a starting teacher is earning nearly $59,500 this school year with teacher retirement contributions, according to its contract. In the Harlem School District, another comparable, it’s $48,151 with retirement contributions, according to its contract.

After long negotiation sessions in early October, the teachers union voted on a tentative contract agreement with the district. That proposal was overwhelmingly rejected, with 63% of members who voted turning it down. That Oct. 22 vote was taken by 81% of members, according to the REA.

The two sides then went into mediation before the district presented its last best final offer on Dec. 18, two days after naming a new superintendent who will take over July 1.

At the meeting where Larry Huff was selected to succeed Ehren Jarrett as superintendent, REA members filled the board room and halls to rally for a new contract. They showed up in numbers so large that several people were turned away at the door due to capacity restrictions under the fire code.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas