MAHOMET – The Mahomet-Seymour Education Association's new contract will give certified teachers a 5 percent raise each year, or a 15 percent raise over three years, and increase the district's personnel costs about $800,000.

The Mahomet-Seymour school board unanimously ratified the three-year contract with union members Monday morning.

Superintendent Keith Oates said the contract also includes an average raise of 6 percent per year for teachers' aides and other noncertified employees, or 18 percent over three years.

The contract starts brand-new teachers at about $31,000 per year, and the scale ranges to about $71,500 for the most experienced, educated teachers.

It also includes increases in union members' insurance benefits and an agreement that the district won't cap teachers' salaries at 6 percent this year.

John Wedge of the Illinois Education Association explained the cap as one employed by school districts when the Illinois General Assembly imposed penalties for teachers receiving pay increases for getting a master's degree or taking on extra duties if pay for these brought about a 6 percent increase for a teacher in a given year.

But that has hurt teachers, Wedge said, because many districts' caps apply to teachers with 15 years of experience or more. "The teachers weren't going to be getting rewarded for getting better educated."

But Wedge said the new Mahomet-Seymour contract stipulates that the board will not cap salaries this year and will do so only for teachers with 25 years of experience or more.

School board President Ned Hahn said this encourages teachers to get their master's degrees or other further education.

"(It's) a good thing, because it means we probably encourage teachers to get that training early in their careers and that will benefit, of course, the teaching," Hahn said.

The contract also gives custodians four holidays they lost when they joined the union, Hahn said.

The district and union settled on the contract last week after an all-night bargaining session with a federal mediator. Members of the union filed an intent to strike about 10 days before that.

They ratified the contract last Wednesday.

The union represents about 300 members, including teachers, secretaries, custodians, teachers' aides and transportation department workers.

Mahomet-Seymour Education Association President Eric Potter said he's happy with the board's approval of the contract.

"Finally, (the ratification) really puts it behind us, and now we're ready to move on," Potter said.