A new contract for Hilliard City School District teachers gives educators annual raises while also increasing their health insurance premiums.
The base salary will increase 3.5% for the 2025-26 school year, then 3.25% for the next two years.
That’s higher than the salary increases in the last union contract, which were 2% annual raises and $1,000 bonuses, The Dispatch reported at the time.
However, health insurance premium contributions will increase slightly, from 15% to 16%, starting in January, then to 17% in 2027. Deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums will also increase starting in January, according to a document a district spokesperson shared with The Dispatch.
The changes to health insurance costs come as prices have also increased for the district, Superintendent David Stewart said in an interview.
The Hilliard school board unanimously approved the tentative agreement at its June 9 board meeting.
“I know, as a teacher myself, that things in the world of education feel a little tumultuous right now. I hope this gives our teachers and educators a sense of security and comfort during this time,” board member Kara Crowley said, according to unofficial meeting notes.
The contract is valid until June 30, 2028.
A Hilliard teachers’ union representative did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
A few other changes to the contract include more autonomy over planning time — from 40% to 60% — and that staff meetings are no more than three per month, instead of once per week.
Teachers will also now get $10 more when they lose a planning period to cover for another teacher, increasing from $35 to $45.
Stewart said he has been monitoring the ongoing discourse on state education funding — some proposals have diminished public school funding — but that the increased cost of the union contract is smaller than the potential effect that some of the bills would have on the district.
“Some of the things that the General Assembly are considering would have such a seismic effect that agreeing to a 3.5% raise really isn’t going to change the enormity of that impact,” Stewart said.
Negotiations started in February and wrapped up around the end of the school year, in late May or early June, Stewart said.
“Like any negotiation, there was a lot of dialogue, a lot of problem solving,” Stewart said of the contract talks. “At the end of negotiation, nobody walked out with everything they wanted, but I think both sides walked out of this one thinking they ended on a contract that was fair and appropriate and reasonable for both sides.”
While the board approved a “tentative” agreement, Stewart said that no information will change since it has been ratified by the board and the union.
While the Hilliard board and teachers have reached an agreement, hundreds of educators with the South Western Education Association and their supporters marched to that district’s school board meeting June 9 to push for a resolution of negotiations on a new contract there. Negotiations for a new contract have been underway since March.
Anna Lynn Winfrey covers the western suburbs for The Columbus Dispatch. She can be reached at awinfrey@dispatch.com.
