Crystal Lake School District 47 to post contract online before vote
In a rarely seen move, Illinois’ Crystal Lake School District 47 has decided to post its recently negotiated contract online – for the public to view – before the union and district hold a vote on it. Unfortunately in Illinois, contract negotiations are often completely hidden from the public until the whole process is completed....
In a rarely seen move, Illinois’ Crystal Lake School District 47 has decided to post its recently negotiated contract online – for the public to view – before the union and district hold a vote on it.
Unfortunately in Illinois, contract negotiations are often completely hidden from the public until the whole process is completed. In fact, Illinois is one of only 11 states that have completely secret negotiations between public unions and government entities.
Crystal Lake is breaking the mold. The school district just posted its tentative teachers contract online after a year of negotiations before a vote that will take place at a school board meeting Monday, April 21.
District 47’s tentative contract can be viewed here.
District President Jeff Mason believes the “ultimate agreement works well for the district and employees,” which may be why they have decided to show it to the public.
If public unions and government officials feel they’ve negotiated a deal that benefits all parties involved there should be no need to keep it secret.
The public is often left clueless to the true expenses they’re paying for until it’s too late.
For instance, Aptakisic-Tripp School District 102 board members announced teachers would receive a 3.75 percent per year raise in their negotiated agreement, when in reality the agreement would give teachers 4.5-6 percent increases, plus a laundry list of extras. The public didn’t find out about this until after the contract was ratified.
The public should not be taken for granted and left in the dark.
Unfortunately, most Illinoisans can’t see the government union contracts they are paying for until they are already voted on and ratified.
More of Illinois’ local governments should take note of Crystal Lake’s move toward being open and honest with its residents. All of Illinois’ residents deserve to know what’s in these contracts before they’re on the hook for them.