ITHACA ,N.Y. — Members of the Ithaca Teachers Association voted to ratify a new contract with the Ithaca City School District.
The three-year contract was approved by 86% of the members that finished voting on Dec. 15. The contract now needs to be approved by ICSD’s Board of Education in a yet-to-be scheduled vote for sometime in January.
ITA, which represents close to 600 teachers across ICSD, won an average 7% salary increase for 2025 to 2026, followed by a 7% increase then a 6 % increase in the following two school years.
Beside meaningful salary increases, the teachers’ union won a major demand from the district — changing the compensation model for teachers.
ICSD will now use a “step and lane” system to determine teacher compensation.
A step and lane system determines a teacher’s compensation based on a combination of their years of experience, the “steps,” and their level of training, the “lanes.”
ITA championed the step and lane salary schedule to bring stability and predictability to teacher’s compensation. While step and lane is widely used across American school districts, the teachers’ union said it was “hard fought” for in negotiations with the school district.
Negotiations between the teachers’ union and school district administration reached an impasse in late June. Talks were put on pause, and the district administration walked away from the table with a clear message.
“We were told specifically that the district was not interested in entertaining a step in lane system at that time,” said ITA President Katheryn Cernera.
The tides turned for the teacher’s union when a school district audit was released in October. That audit painted a rosier picture of school district finances than what was expected. The district and the teacher’s union reached a tentative agreement days after the release of the audit.
“I just don’t think that it’s a coincidence that we settled a tentative agreement two days later,” Cernera said.
While the audit may have been the deciding factor that tipped negotiations in favor of the teachers’ union, educators and community members had orchestrated a concerted public pressure campaign in the lead up to the tentative agreement being reached.
Public demonstrations, including marches and passionate public comments at ICSD board meetings were all aimed at bringing visibility to the contract negotiation.
Cernera described the success of the contract negotiations as a “true community effort.”
Dr. Sean Eversley Bradwell, president of the ICSD Board of Education, said in statement, “This was a bold and innovative negotiation process. The Board is greatly appreciative of the hard work, time and dedication that created the tentative agreement. Both the ITA leadership and ICSD negotiating team should be commended. We are looking forward to holding a Board vote in January.
The district administration has touted the contract as a major investment in ICSD’s teachers. District Superintendent Luvelle Brown previously said of the agreement that it represented a $8.4 million investment in raises for teachers over the next three years.
The Ithaca City School District did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The tentative agreement also includes an increase to the school day to 7 hours and 20 minutes, which will take effect in the next school year. Teachers will also have an increase in parental leave, bringing their total time to 12 paid weeks. Current health benefits also remain unchanged.
The teachers’ union didn’t get everything it wanted out of negotiations. Teachers are unable to add domestic partners to the health policies. Currently, a partner through marriage can be added to a health insurance plan, but the union sought to expand that to domestic partnerships.
Cernera said the teachers’ union will aim to lobby for legislative changes in Albany “for legal domestic partnerships to be recognized as akin to marriage” when it comes to adding partners to healthcare plans.
“We’re not done fighting,” Cernera said
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