St. Charles School Board approves four-year teacher contracts

The St. Charles District 303 School Board approved a four-year labor pact with its teachers’ union last week, a deal that includes gradual raises for teachers and eventually a shorter elementary school day.

The four-year contract was ratified by the teachers’ union, known as the St. Charles Education Association or SCEA, on May 23 and the school board approved it May 25.

The contract will go into effect in the 2023-24 school year and last through the 2026-27 school year.

Under the contract, teachers’ wage increases will be based off the Consumer Price Index of each year. For each of the contract’s first two years, teachers will receive a raise of CPI plus .5%, and CPI plus 1% for each of the final two years.

The elementary school day will be shortened by 40 minutes starting in the contract’s second year. The elementary school day is seven hours. Starting in the 2024-25 school year, the elementary day will be six hours and 20 minutes.

The amount of daily total instructional time for students will not change in core curricular areas (literacy, math, science, social studies) but classroom time will be reduced for subjects outside the core areas.

In a news release, SCEA President Jennifer Adam said that because of unanticipated inflation and the impact of increased salary expenditures, the district will need to reduce the number of art, music and physical education teachers in the 2024-25 school year.

Administrators said at this time the number of art, music and P.E. teachers that will be impacted is not known.

The administration will provide more details regarding start/end times for all levels for the 2024-25 school year once they have been finalized, according to the release.