The latest contract negotiation meeting between the Mercer County School District and the union that represents its teachers ended without a deal being reached.
The Mercer County Education Association (MCEA) met with the school district on Monday, where the union filed for mediation, according to an MCEA spokesperson. That would bring in a third party to help facilitate communication and negotiation between the two sides.
For a teachers’ union to legally strike in Illinois, mediation must be attempted and deemed unsuccessful, the union must have an expired contract, and the union must issue the school district a 10-day formal notice of intent to strike.
MCEA’s contract expired June 30. With the deal expired, teachers will be paid the previous year’s salary until a new deal is signed. If a new deal is reached during the 2025-26 school year that includes pay raises, staff would be back paid the money they missed out on dating back to the start of the school year. If the MCEA decided to strike, teachers in the district would not be paid during the strike.
MCEA says the district offers less compensation for teachers than the neighboring Rockridge and Sherrard School Districts and the lowest compensation in the Regional Office of Education (ROE) District #33, which includes United, West Central, Monmouth-Roseville, Galesburg, ROWVA, Williamsfield, Knoxville, and Abingdon-Avon.
The first day of school in the Mercer County School District is August 14.