ITHACA, N.Y. — Teachers and their supporters cheered and embraced in the Ithaca City School District (ICSD) boardroom Tuesday night after district leaders gave final approval to a new labor contract.
Tuesday’s vote marked the end of a nearly year-long negotiation process between the Ithaca Teachers’ Association (ITA) and school district leaders. While the union’s roughly 580 members overwhelmingly voted to approve the contract in December, the board’s Jan. 27 vote was the final step to formal ratification.
One of the largest victories for the union is the implementation of a “step-and-lane” salary schedule. The Ithaca Teachers Association was previously one of the only teachers unions in the region without that provision in its contract.
In a step-and-lane system, a teacher is placed in a particular “lane” on a wage schedule based on their experience. Each year, they move up a “step” within that lane. If they earn professional development credits or an advanced degree, they can move up to a “faster” lane that allows them to take larger steps towards the top of the wage ladder.
Previously, all ICSD teachers received the same raise each year across the board, typically around 4%.
Under the new contract, teachers will receive an average annual 7% raise this year and next, then 6% in the third year. The percentage may vary from teacher to teacher, but none will see a raise less than 5%. Some teachers could even see initial increases in the double digits as their salaries are adjusted to be in compliance with the new schedule.
“Those whose salaries have lagged behind for years [will] get brought to a rate competitive with our neighbor[ing school districts] through higher increases,” a union statement reads.
The new contract also extends paid parental leave to 12 weeks and maintains the current selection of retiree health benefits, among other agreements.
Initially, ICSD’s negotiating team said they were uncertain if it was fiscally sustainable long term to transition to a step-and-lane system, particularly if the district needed to draw on its rainy day fund to do so, as ITA leaders had suggested.
With the approval of the contract, District Superintendent Luvelle Brown said that district leaders are in the process of “talking about the finances” for the future, and he was confident the district could afford the boost in wages.
District leaders agreed to implement the step-and-lane system in October, shortly after receiving an audit report showing ICSD had brought in a moderate surplus of revenue last year. More recently, Cornell University recently increased its voluntary contribution to the district. Earlier this month, leaders also received new data suggesting it may be within the district’s best fiscal interest to close one or more elementary school in the future.
“We can afford this contract,” Brown said. “We are positioning ourselves as an organization to do some really cool things over the next few years in addition to this contract.”
Lehman Alternative Community School teacher Sheila “Gus” Gustafson said the new contract and its step-and-lane salary schedule goes a long way to making ICSD a more competitive employer within the region.
Gustafson, an Ithaca native and ICSD alum, said she loves her students but that working in the district felt, at times, like it came with certain sacrifices.
“I had concerns joining ICSD,” Gustafson said. “I came from [Union Endicott Central School District] and I was not delighted about some parts of what I had to give up to be here. This contract has improved that significantly.”
Gustafson also said that she was also pleased that the contract maintains funding levels and healthcare options for retirees.
“I’m happy for all the teachers I had that have retired,” Gustafson said. “And I’m happy to know that when I get there, I will be taken care of and living my best life.”
Throughout the union campaign, teachers described an outflow of talent over the years as colleagues left for better pay and conditions in other districts — even if it meant a significantly longer commute.
Board member Garrick Blalock told The Ithaca Voice he felt the salary and benefits in the new contract were the missing piece needed to attract more talented teachers to Ithaca.
“We want this to be the flagship district and anybody within an hour’s drive of here should want to be in this district, so we have a choice of the best educators in the region,” Blalock said. “We have that educational drive. We have a political atmosphere that allows for an environment of inquiry. And now we have the compensation package and the benefits package that really seals the deal.”
Board member Jacob Shiffrin congratulated teachers on what he said was a “kick-ass raise.” However, he cast the sole vote against the contract. Shiffrin said he had some minor “financial and legal concerns” he’d like to see addressed, but did not elaborate on their substance.
“Within the last week our legal counsel reviewed the contract and did find a few areas — not connected to the major raises — that raised certain financial and legal concerns,” Shiffrin said. “I also understand from the legal counsel that they are likely very straightforward to address.”
Shiffrin declined to comment when asked to specify his concerns.
Several other board members, like Todd Fox and Emily Workman, said they had similar concerns and questions, but voted to ratify anyway. Neither were available for comment after the meeting adjourned.
School board president Sean Eversley Bradwell also did not elaborate on his colleagues’ concerns, but made clear he did not feel the same way.
“All those concerns that have been expressed, for me, are wins for teachers,” Bradwell said. “There is a way in which we know the teaching profession is under attack nationally and finding ways in which to offer additional protections and additional compensation, offering different avenues for voice and collaboration as we proceed, is key for me.”
Bradwell, the board’s longest serving member, called the contract “historic in a number of ways,” highlighting, in particular, the fact that bargaining sessions were livestreamed to the public.
Over the past year, many teachers told The Ithaca Voice they felt that the more open approach to negotiations encouraged far more participation and energy from the rank and file than in past years.
According to a statement from ICSD, 82.8% of all union members cast a ballot during their own ratification vote in December — about double the participation compared to the last contract renegotiation vote in 2019. Union leadership said the latest contract is a result of “the most open, democratic bargaining process that the ITA has ever undertaken.”
Boynton Middle School teacher and ITA officer Jacob Chapin said he was particularly proud of a provision he had helped advocate for that more clearly codifies the right to academic freedom.
Chapin said he felt it is important for teachers to be able to give lessons on subjects that may be considered controversial, provided the lesson is age appropriate and meets state educational standards.
“We’ve had assaults from people before, particularly around the Palestine issue, around teaching that,” Chapin said. “We’ve also had people complain about us teaching kids about Black and brown people, LGBTQ people. It’s becoming a problem, even here.”
Ithaca Teachers Association President and DeWitt Middle School teacher Kathryn Cernera said for her, the step-and-lane salary schedule is the biggest win — not just because of the salary boosts that will come with it, but because it’s been a fight almost 60 years in the making.
“We had [a step and lane salary schedule] in our first contracts, but in the 60s, it got bargained away,” Cernera said.
There have been at least two other efforts by teachers to restore the salary schedule system — one in the 1980s and another attempt in the 1990s, Cernera said. Both were unsuccessful.
In this latest push, union leaders made step-and-lane the banner issue in both formal negotiations and in the many demonstrations organized to bolster support for the effort.
“There’s an adage in contract negotiation and union work, which is ‘don’t ever give anything away because you’ll never get it back,’” Cernera said. “But we proved that wrong a little bit with this [contract].”
Cernera said that even though the contract had been ratified there’s still plenty to do.
In the coming weeks, Cernera said teachers can expect to see pay raises retroactive to July 1 — the day the new contract was originally meant to go into effect. The new contract is currently in effect and will expire on June 30, 2028.
“Winning an amazing contract is great. Enforcing an amazing contract is where the work really begins,” Cernera said.
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