New Trier Superintendent Explains High Salaries

More than 200 teachers at New Trier High School District make more than $100,000 a year in base salary. The district superintendent explains that as the cost of having good schools.

According to data supplied by the Illinois State Board of Education for the 2010-2011 school year, the most recent data available, over half of the nearly 400 teachers at New Trier have annual salaries north of $100,000. That figure does not include monetizing the benefit packages the teachers receive.

New Trier Superintendent Dr. Linda Yonke says that good schools are the byproduct of good teachers.

“We (recently) asked the community in a survey what was the most important for the schools to do, and the number one response was to recruit and retain high quality teachers. New Trier is a wonderful school with wonderful teachers, but we want to be financially responsible.”

In addition, 15 administrators make more than $100,000 at New Trier.

Yonke added 95 percent of the New Trier teachers have a masters degree or higher. Moreover, most of them have tremendous amounts of experience and there is relatively little teacher turnover.

There are approximately 4,200 students at New Trier with a student to teacher ratio of roughly 22.5 to 1.

“Our teachers are not the highest paid in the state or in the area and we do offer a competitive salary and benefit package comparable to those districts around us,” Yonke said.

The ISBE cautions against making too many comparisons between districts because the numbers aren't always equivalent. But, given the data that is public, New Trier is in line with neighboring districts.

Find out how much educators make in your school.

At the Northfield Township District #225, which encompasses Glenbrook North and South High Schools, there are just over 400 teachers and the number of teachers making $100,000 or more in base salary according to the ISBE data is approximately 200. That number of roughly 200 making more than $100,000 is also the case at District 113, which handles Deerfield and Highland Park High Schools, and has about 300 teachers.

New Trier teachers are in the second year of a two-year contract with negotiations for a new contract slated to start soon. Given that there have been strikes in Highland Park and Lake Forest earlier this year, the fear of a labor stoppage may be on the mind of some New Trier parents.

“You never enter into negotiations expecting a strike,” Yonke said. “There will be tough discussions but it would be premature to predict the outcome of those negotiations.”

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