Elkhart Community Schools officials announced a tentative one‑year contract agreement with the Elkhart Teachers Association (ETA) that would run July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026.

The district said the tentative agreement, reached Oct. 30 and posted on the school corporation’s website at least 72 hours before the meeting as required by Indiana law, contains no general base salary increase and no increases to employee medical or dental insurance premiums for the coming year. The presenter described the pact as largely a status‑quo contract with relatively limited changes to the existing contract language.

The presentation cited two reasons for the lack of a base pay increase: continuing financial challenges facing the school corporation and a legal prohibition under Indiana law on the school corporation entering into an agreement while the education fund is in deficit financing (Indiana Code section 20‑29‑6‑9‑19). The Elkhart Teachers Association has ratified the tentative agreement, the presenter said.

Board members were told that the board will accept public comment on the temporary agreement and then vote on it at the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, at 7 p.m. in the boardroom. No formal vote on the agreement was taken at the meeting where the announcement was made.

The presenter thanked members of the school corporation’s bargaining team by name for their work on the agreement. A board member joining by phone, Mr. Scott, said he had no questions when invited to comment.

If the board approves the temporary agreement at the Nov. 11 meeting, any implementation that affects wages or benefits will depend on the final board action at that meeting and on any terms specified in the adopted contract. The presenter characterized the agreement as intended to maintain current compensation and benefits levels for the 2025–26 school year amid the district’s stated fiscal constraints.