3.3.1.4 Step Increase
Step Increase explanation:
Step increase, an automatic pay increase built into contracts
negotiated between the School Board and the teacher union
(and non-teaching employees) based on a teacher’s years of
service. In addition, teachers may move from one pay level
to another as a result of the completion of additional college
educational requirements.
The current November, 2008 Sycamore teacher contract is
for school years 2008-2009 (fiscal year 2009), 2009- 2010
and 2010-2011. The Sycamore B.O.E announced salary
increases of 1%, 2.25%, and 2.5% for those same years. These cost-of-living pay (base) raises do not include step or other across-
the-board pay increases.
The automatic Sycamore step increase means an additional average 3.0 percent annual raise for all teachers in FY09, 3.0% FY10 and 3.0% FY11. (Note: These percentages are estimates based on Wyoming’s average step increase. Sycamore’s administration refuses to disclose their step raise percentage.)
I don’t know if Sycamore has an additional negotiated across-the-board pay increase and if so, at what percentage in each of the three years.
The total annual pay increase for all three categories could be 4.0%
in FY09, 5.25% in FY10 and 6.0% in FY11. In just three short years the total percentage increase could be over 16%. (Note: Sycamore also refuses to disclose the yearly dollar cost increase for FY2009, FY2010 and FY2011.)
Sycamore and the news media don’t mention the step increase nor the total increase, misleading the public into believing the negotiated wage increase is reasonable. Sixteen percent is much higher than the perceived 5.75% (1, 2.25 , 2.5).
Note: The above percentages and dollar amounts were not
verified nor corrected by the Sycamore School Treasurer. As of October 26, 2009, the Sycamore board and treasurer still refuses to disclose the total annual step increase dollar and percentage amounts.
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Sycamore actual wage scale example:
The Sycamore School District announced a 2% wage increase, while the mechanic in this example actually received a total 5.3% increase in 2005-06 ($17.35 to $18.27) and an additional 5.2% increase ($18.27 to $19.22) in 2006-07 school year.
Mechanic Wage Schedule
Steps |
Effective 2004-05 |
Effective 2005-06 |
Effective 2006-07 |
| 1 | $17.35 | $17.70 | $18.05 |
| 2 | $17.91 | $18.27 | $18.63 |
| 3 | $18.48 | $18.85 | $19.22 |
| 4 | $19.04 | $19.42 | $19.81 |
| 5 | $19.61 | $20.00 | $20.40 |
| 6 | $20.18 | $20.58 | $20.99 |
| 7 | $20.72 | $21.14 | $21.56 |
| 8 | $21.29 | $21.72 | $22.15 |
| 9 | $21.85 | $22.28 | $22.73 |
| 10 | $22.41 | $22.86 | $23.32 |
| 11 | $22.41 | $22.86 | $23.32 |
| 12 | $22.41 | $22.86 | $23.32 |
| 13 | $22.98 | $23.44 | $23.91 |
| 14 | $22.98 | $23.44 | $23.91 |
| 15 | $22.98 | $23.44 | $23.91 |
| 16 | $23.54 | $24.01 | $24.49 |
| 17 | $23.54 | $24.01 | $24.49 |
| 18 | $23.54 | $24.01 | $24.49 |
| 19 | $24.11 | $24.59 | $25.08 |
| 20 | $24.11 | $24.59 | $25.08 |
Source: Agreement between Ohio Association of Public School Employees, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, (OAPSE) and its Chapter No. 243 and The Board of Education of the Sycamore Community School District. Effective July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2007. Page 76.
LIBERTY TWP.
Teachers in Greater Cincinnati’s second largest school system may soon approve a new contract that could freeze all types of pay.
…Negotiations between Lakota Schools and the district’s 1,190-member teachers’ union have produced a tentative contract, Lakota officials said Friday.
…In April, the Lakota school board voided its current labor contract, citing a projected budget deficit in 2013 of $28 million and $12.2 million in sweeping personnel and program budget cuts for next school year.
…Both sides have been negotiating since.
…Both an across-the-board freeze of pay and the first-ever hold on individual teachers’ “step increases” could be part of a new contract.
…With nearly half of Southwest Ohio’s school districts either planning or considering tax issues on the ballot this year – including Lakota – more area teacher unions are agreeing to step pay freezes.
…Step pay raises are independent of regular salaries and are determined for quailified techers by a variety of factors including senority, teaching speciality and certification.
…Hamilton County’s Loveland Schools saw teachers recently agree to rare step pay freezes as did teachers in Warren County’s Mason Schools.
…Lakota officials declined Friday to reveal the proposed contract’s details. Lakota teachers union president Sharon Mays did not respond to phone messages seeking comment.
…Lakota officials said they would release details of the tentative contract Monday.
…Any proposed contract would have to be approved by the Lakota union members and that vote could happen later next week.
…The practice of teacher unions agreeing to freeze base pay going into school levy campaigns is commonplace, but what is new locally is the trend of expanding a contractual freeze to include individual step raises.
…Almost all Ohio school districts spend about 85 percent of their annual operating budget on labor costs.
…Lakota suffered two operating tax levy losses at the ballot last year.
Source: All-pay freeze seen at Lakota
No step-up for teachers
Lakota: Freeze would extend to step raises
By Michael D. Clark
mclark@enquirer.com
May 14, 2011 C1
A company hired to study pay rates for non-union workers in five Butler County departments recommended Monday the county abolish its step system …
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“pay for performance is clearly where we need to go,” Commissioner Don Dixon said. “Everybody used to get a step if you were breathing and you were here. You got a step if you were alive.”
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None of those (surrounding) counties use step raises, Babcock said. Half provide merit raises; the other use a pay range.
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… counties are trending…in eliminating steps for non-bargaining employees …
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Butler County began using step increases in 2000 as a way to bring low-paid employees in line with workers in surrounding counties, ..
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The county already has been able to persuade three unions to freeze or eliminate step increases, saving the county $350,000 through 2012, …
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Union workers at Job and Family Services froze step increases through August 2012. Employees with the Clerk of Courts Office got rid of them altogether this year and the Development Department will eliminate step increases in 2012, she (Babcock) said.
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Source: Butler Co. may drop automatic pay raises. Merit-based system could save millions. By Sheila McLaughlin, The Enquirer, 12/21/10
In reference to the article “School nurse on chopping block” (Dec.7), how about a headline that reads “Teacher step-raise/salary program on chopping block? In addition to having taxpayers stop paying for school nurse programs, how about really fixing the education deficits and bloated cost/salary structures by eliminating the over-the-top step salary raises that the unions insist on for the teachers?
Source: Education priorities The Enquirer by Colleen Greissenger, RN, 12/14/10 A11
The Asssociated Press and The Enquirer reported Nov. 30, 2010 that President Obama announced a PAY FREEZE for 2 million federal employees November 29, 2010. Obama warned that it is the first of many difficult decisions that must be made to slash deficits.
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Union leader’s comments included: “You hear a lot about federal workers being overpaid, but that’s mainly the upper echelon,” he said. “My concern is my members are underpaid.” And, another union leader said a wage freeze on middle-income workers isn’t fair.
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The article then reports, “The pay freeze would NOT AFFECT bonuses or STEP INCREASES for federal employees.
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Federal workers received a 1.9 percent increase this year.”
Folks, remember the Sycamore School District pays ‘step increases’ but doesn’t tell us property taxpayers either the percentage or dollar amount.
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It is hard to trust a B.O.E. and administration that continually hides the facts.
Source: The Community Press
Negotiations Update
The Lakota Local School District Board of Educations’ bargaining team and the bargaining team representatives of the Lakota Support Staff Association met with a federal mediator on Thursday, April 22, 2010 and formalized the Tentative Agreement for the final year of the current labor contract between the parties. The Tentative Agreement provides a zero percent increase = base pay while honoring salary schedule steps. The Tentative Agreement also provides for an alternate open enrollment period for employees to enroll in a more cost effective health insurance plan.
Date: April 23, 2010
Source: Lakota school web site
William Deters, attorney representing Lakota in labor talks with teachers, said, “The (union) stated in its [press] release that the (union) offered the Board a ‘pay freeze.’ This is not accurate. The (union) offered a zero percent increase in the base pay for the 2010-11 school year. The (union) rejected the Board’s counter proposal for a freeze on the base salary and seniority steps of the teacher’s salary schedule.”
Source: Lakota teachers, officials in public dispute, The Enquirer, April 24, 2010 By Michael D. Clark
This week the Kings school board voted to accept a one-year extension of a labor pact with more than 150 non-teaching employees that calls for no pay increase through next school year. Previously, the board also approved a one-year extension of the current contract for teachers, also with no raise for the 2010-11 school year.
Source: KINGS SCHOOLS No-raise contract for staff approved, The Enquirer, Aril 24, 2010
[Administrator note – Could this also be inaccurate? See Enquirer article, Lakota teachers, officials in public dispute. The reporters credibility is at stake for not questioning the accuracy of the school offical who provides the information.]
Sycamore Mechanic Hourly Rate Scale
Steps 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10
1 $18.55 $18.95 $19.30
2 $19.13 $19.53 $19.88
3 $19.72 $20.12 $20.47
4 $20.31 $20.71 $21.06
5 $20.90 $21.30 $21.65
6 $21.49 $21.89 $22.24
7 $22.06 $22.46 $22.81
8 $22.65 $23.05 $23.40
9 $22.65 $23.63 $23.98
10 $23.23 $24.22 $24.57
11 $23.82 $24.22 $24.57
12 $23.82 $24.22 $24.57
13 $24.41 $24.81 $25.16
14 $24.41 $24.81 $25.16
15 $24.41 $24.81 $25.16
16 $24.99 $25.39 $25.74
17 $24.99 $25.39 $25.74
18 $24.99 $25.39 $25.74
19 $25.58 $25.98 $26.33
20 $25.58 $25.98 $26.33
Actual Step Increases of some other school districts in their own words are listed here.
Lakota – costs for vertcal step and horizontal range increases are expected to average 2-3% a year.
Fairfield – 2% average step increase for each year of the forecast on top of a 2.75% base wage increase in FY2009 and a 2.5% base wage increase for FY2010.
Solon – Incremental increases are projected at 3.00% each year. Negotiated increases are additional.
Ross – For the period beyond the current agreement, a 2% increase has been used for personal services (the cost of step increase, no change to base salary).
Deer Park – The average rate increase due to teachers’ salary step increments, account for 1.4%. Across-the-board pay increases beyond FY2010 are based on historical trends.
Cincinnati – The cost of step increases is assumed to continue at its current rate of approximately 2% each year for fiscal years 2009-2013.
Base salaries were increased by 1% effective 1/1/07 and 2% on 1/1/08 per negotiated agreement. Base salaries are assumed to increase by 2% in fiscal years 2011-2013.
… a 4% increase in base and step salary increases …
Sources: Each district’s Five Year Forecast Assumptions, Oct, 2009.
This message was received from a Sycamore School District Taxpayer:
This is, if not the crux, a very important part of the compensation difference Sycamore vs. other school districts. Good luck in rooting this one out.
This message was recently received from an out-of-district school board member.
“If xxx is the district treasurer she calculates the cost of the step raises in her 5 year forecast. She is feeding you a line of bull and avoiding your question. It’s called stonewalling. The step raise is one of their DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS that they don’t want let out of the bag.”
This is a copy of a 9/24/09 e-mail, a resident and taxpayer wrote Sycamore’s Treasurer and Board President:
I have received timely responses to other questions and I thank you for that. But, I have not received a response to my 9/17/09 e-mail. It’s not the first time I asked questions about ‘step raise’ communication. You appear to be stonewalling again. So I want to tell you what I am thinking and feeling.
As school treasurer and board president, your constant refusal to communicate ‘step raise’ percentages and dollar amounts to the community and the media is very troubling. It led to my initial distrust of our school system and my continued disappointment in your behavior.
I feel it is dishonest on your part. Sycamore and the news media don’t mention the ‘step raise’ nor the total increase, misleading the public into believing a negotiated base wage increase is reasonable. What are you trying to hide?
Just because most other districts don’t disclose the effects of ‘step raises’ isn’t an excuse for Sycamore’s lack of transparency. I have a hard time believing neither of you know an estimated percentage and dollar cost associated with the annual step raise. Any professional treasurer and board would certainly want that information when negotiating new contracts and forecasting expenditures.
The new five year forecast is due next month. I hope you will you do what is right and communicate the impact of step and base raises at that time. (Note: The forecast has since been released but no mention of step raises was made.)
The Wyoming school board Monday rejected a proposal that would have raised the base salaries of its teachers by 2.8 percent this school year and 3.3 percent for each of the next two school years. The raises would have been in addition to “step’ raises many teachers receive after passing various educational and longevity milestones.
The average step increase at Wyoming is 3.1 percent annually, officials said. The Wyoming Education Association in July rejected the board’s offer of a 2 percent annual raise, a $1,000 stipend and some health concessions. District Treasurer Brian Rabe said that proposal would necessitate a 6-mill levy proposal in 2012 while the union’s proposal would require 10 mills.”
Source: Wyoming teachers don’t get a raise. THE ENQUIRER. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2009.