This year, the Ithaca Teachers’ Association (ITA) entered contract negotiations for the first time since 2019. The union is advocating for increasing teacher compensation, among other demands. Aside from base salary, the ITA holds ICSD accountable for providing adequate textbooks and educational resources to classroom teachers, as well as ensuring appropriate overtime pay and procedures for student misbehavior.
Virtually anything that affects teacher quality of life or morale is included in the ITA’s six-year contracts, the latest of which will conclude on June 30. For the past several months, ITA leaders have lobbied district officials for salary and benefits hikes, engaging in both closed-door and publicly accessible negotiations. One of the ITA’s greatest grievances are so-called leapfrog contracts, which disadvantage long-tenured educators. Leapfrogging refers to policies which provide higher base pay for new hires, without raises for already-hired personnel. The ITA contends that this phenomenon has increased ICSD’s appeal to young teachers, but has led to a teacher retention crisis, with experienced educators leaving the district for others with better compensation. The ITA’s proposed solution is a “step-and-lane” program, in which teachers earn a percentage raise for each additional year they teach in the district. Current salary plans allow for some seniority-based raises, but according to ITA president Kathryn Cernera, these are not significant enough to account for leapfrogging. A step-and-lane program would not decrease any teacher’s salary, merely providing large bonuses and a clear promotion schedule for seasoned educators.
According to ITA secretary Brian Goodman, a step-and-lane program would help solve ICSD’s retention crisis. Goodman told The Tattler that faculty, under the current contract, “could quit and get rehired and be paid more,” highlighting the disparity between rookie and veteran teacher salaries. In the past years, many ICSD teachers have been leaving for other districts with better pay standards, creating a vacuum of qualified educators, whose positions are often filled by uncertified adjuncts. According to Goodman, these adjuncts are paid less than certified teachers, resulting in lower-than-expected salary costs. This budget surplus is traditionally reallocated to district financial reserves, but the ITA argues that the returns from over-budgeting should instead be redirected towards mid- and late-career staff salaries, in the form of a step-and-lane program. This would constitute a 7.5 percent increase in total teacher compensation over the next four years.
A common critique levied by district officials is that drawing from the reserves is fiscally irresponsible, especially since district expenses are projected to outpace revenue over the next several years. According to the district financial team’s April 8 presentation to the Board of Education, ICSD would likely have to pull from the reserves to finance the budget as early as 2028. The ITA has argued in response that they are uninterested in depleting the reserves, only slowing their growth due to over-budgeting. In a recent interview with The Tattler, Cernera stated that “We believe based on the financial data we have been given by the district that the proposal we have put forth is affordable within the current budget.” However, the ITA admits that certain budget items might eventually have to be frozen. In Goodman’s words, ICSD must “treat this like a crisis […] and freeze some items,” namely supplies like paper, printer, and ink.
The ITA has also pointed out that ICSD spends a great deal on recruiting teachers, which might not be necessary if retention were higher. This could save the district money, which could then be repurposed to finance the step-and-lane program.
Beyond salary concerns, the ITA is also lobbying for more teacher planning time during the school day, citing the high unpaid workload outside of class spent planning lessons and collaborating with coworkers to build a cohesive curriculum. Both Cernera and Goodman emphasized the importance of “time to work during work,” an ITA slogan which advocates for giving teachers more planning and PLC (professional learning community) periods. Cernera expressed understanding for the student bathroom surveillance policy at IHS, but still hopes to structure more non-class work time into the 2025 contract.
The ITA is also lobbying for better health benefits and support in the classroom for teachers experiencing threats or assault from students. However, these issues have been dwarfed by salary disputes. Both parties continue working towards a deal, a process which Cernera describes as “incredibly hard work” but not necessarily indicative of an adversarial relationship between the ITA and district leadership. The next few months will see more debates over teacher rights and financial strategy, many of which are recorded and viewable by the public on the ITA website.
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