Union proposes step-and-lane salary schedule and $19 million, district offers smaller pot; parties agree to continue talks and set interim dates

The Ithaca Teachers Association (ITA) presented a detailed three-year “step-and-lane” salary proposal intended to address salary compression and make district pay predictable and competitive; the ICSD said it was prepared to offer a smaller, more constrained package and both sides set interim dates to exchange documents and continue negotiation.

What the union proposed: ITA negotiators described a built-out grid that would place all teachers on a unified set of steps (years of service) and lanes (graduate credits/professional credentials) so that salary progression would be predictable over the course of an educator’s career. The union’s negotiators said the plan would be implemented over three years and would raise the total salary allocation by roughly $19,000,000 across those three years. The union framed the change as fixing long-standing compression that left mid-career and veteran teachers behind: “We wanted to invite a couple people to speak about this,” the union presenter said while introducing teacher testimony.

Teacher testimony: Several teachers addressed the table with personal experience about housing affordability and pay. Molly Fernier Ames, a special-education teacher at Caroline Elementary, described being “priced out of living here” and urged district leaders to consider the effect of local housing costs on retention. Meg Burke,…