A months-long effort within Naperville School District 203 to hammer out a new 2024-2027 collective bargaining agreement between the Naperville Educational Support Professionals Association (NESPA) and Board of Education has come to a close, with both sides signing off on the contract.
Parents, students, NESPA members, and other community members have been sounding off on the contract negotiations at District 203 Board of Education meetings this fall, during the public comment portion of the agenda. Speakers shared a myriad of concerns for the employee group — most frequently, about wages.
NESPA represents school support staff in such positions as secretarial and clerical employees, technology support associates, assistants and aides, receptionists, and health technicians. The last three-year NESPA contract expired June 30.
What’s in the new contract
As outlined in the agreement, NESPA members will receive a minimum $1.35 hourly pay increase in the current fiscal year 2025 budget, though professionals in some positions may receive more.
In fiscal year 2026, an additional $1.10 hourly increase will be implemented, and the fiscal year 2027 pay increase will be determined by the consumer price index.
In fiscal year 2025, several specific NESPA-represented positions will receive higher pay rate increases. Special education and behavioral support paraprofessionals will receive a $2.25 hourly bump in year one of the new contract, while behavioral support specialists working at the Connections school will receive a $3.25 hourly pay hike.
NESPA employees also will be privy to longevity pay, based on years of service. Employees with 14 to 17 years of service will receive 27 additional cents per hour, on top of the regular pay schedule; employees with 18 years or more of continuous service will receive an additional 32 cents per hour.
The new contract touches on a range of other issues, including an additional $21 per hour in pay for bus duty, $23 per hour for lunch duty and $21 per hour for extra duties assigned outside the regular job description.
Tentative agreement reached in November
Shortly before Thanksgiving, lead NESPA negotiators and the board issued a joint a news release, indicating a tentative agreement had been reached.
“We believe this is a fair and equitable agreement that honors the essential contributions of our educational support professionals and meets the need of our entire school community,” a joint statement between both parties read at the time.
After Thanksgiving, NESPA members ratified the new contract. The board solidified it with a unanimous vote at a meeting on Monday, Dec. 16.
‘We just hope that you feel valued’
Several board members weighed in on the new NESPA contract as it was taken up for a vote at the recent meeting.
“On behalf of the board, we’re grateful for the work that our NESPA folks do for us,” Board President Kristine Gericke said. “The work that you do underscores all of it. Without you, we wouldn’t have the high achieving district that we have. We just hope that you feel valued, and you feel appreciated with this new agreement.”
Board member Melissa Kelley Black offered similar sentiments, expressing hope NESPA members “feel seen and heard” by the provisions in the new contract.
“I just want to say how happy I am that we found a solution, because I know how important the NESPA members are to the running of our district,” Kelley Black said. “We’re a service industry, which is how I like to look at it. We’re serving our students, so the employees on those frontlines that help our system function effectively for our students and for our families are so important.”
Superintendent Dan Bridges said he and other administrators “enthusiastically recommend” the new agreement.
“The process wasn’t always easy, but I’m grateful that we have reached this agreement,” Bridges said.
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