TEACHER SALARY AND STEPS IN KANELAND.
Kaneland teachers rally Monday evening in Sugar Grove calling for a contract. The current contract between the teachers and Kaneland School District ends June 30. (Linda Girardi / The Beacon-News)
About 125 teachers who work for the Kaneland School District, wearing red shirts and carrying placards, held a rally earlier this week in advance of their school board meeting.
Kaneland is near Sugar Grove in Kane County, west of Chicago.
The current contract expires this weekend.
Currently, new teachers in Kaneland starting salary is around $40,000 a year.
If the $40,000 number sounds familiar, it is because the Illinois legislature voted in the recent session to make $40,000 the minimum salary for teachers in Illinois.
To be enacted in four years.
$40,000 is what Kaneland’s beginning teachers get now.
The $40,000 minimum was Senator Andy Manar’s idea for addressing the teacher shortage crisis. The rest of the Democratic Party controlled state General Assembly agreed with him.
This was not a bold move. Even in rural Kane County $40,000 is barely a livable wage.
Maybe some Illinois Democrats think a livable wage for teachers is socialism and so are CONTINUE READING: Teacher salary and steps in Kaneland. – Fred Klonsky