Center Cass School District 66, located in Downers Grove within Illinois's DuPage County, serves approximately 1,117 students with a teaching staff of 77 headcount (75.87 FTE) as of 2024–25. This report summarizes the district's salary structure, benefits framework, and settlement history based on publicly reported data and recent labor agreements. The district remains a moderate-sized suburban system with staffing and compensation trends reflective of current DuPage County competitive pressures.
Salary structure and baseline compensation
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) maintains baseline salary schedules and actual pay data that provide the clearest picture of Center Cass SD 66's compensation environment. According to the 2025–26 ISBE salary baseline, the district offers a salary schedule with four lanes tied to educational attainment:
- Bachelor's degree (BA): $53,398 to $61,808 over 7 years
- Master's degree (MA): $58,471 to $93,981 over 17 years
- Master's degree + 30 credit hours (MA+30): $62,743 to $102,791 over 17 years
- Highest certification level: Starting at an unspecified point and reaching $110,000 over 17 years
A Master's degree holder reaches a 10th-year salary of $76,893, representing a mid-career benchmark for the district.
Actual teacher compensation data from the 2024–25 school year shows the district's lived salary reality:
- Average teacher salary: $86,388
- Median teacher salary: $86,218
- 25th–75th percentile range: $63,296 to $107,317
The relatively tight clustering of average and median salaries suggests a stable distribution, though the broad percentile range reflects variation across experience and educational attainment levels. Among 64 classroom teachers, the median salary was $87,390 with an average of $86,621. Special education teachers (10 staff) earned slightly less, with a median of $83,874 and average of $85,877.
Administrative staff salaries reflect expected hierarchy. The district employed one Assistant Principal earning $108,000, three Principals averaging $126,691 (median $127,823), and one District Superintendent earning $227,810. Two ESL teachers were on staff, with a median salary of $67,881 and average of $76,067, indicating potential newer-hire composition or part-time deployment in this role.
Benefits and leave structure
The 2025–26 ISBE benefits baseline reveals a health insurance model with high employer cost-sharing for employee-only coverage and reduced support for family plans:
Health insurance:
- Employee-only premium: $9,628 annually, with 90% employer-paid
- Family premium: $19,710 annually, with 30% employer-paid
Dental, vision, and ancillary coverage:
- Dental (employee): $408, fully employer-paid
- Dental (family): $772, fully employee-paid
- Vision (employee): $77, fully employee-paid
- Vision (family): $164, fully employee-paid
- Prescription: Listed as employer-paid at 90% for employee, 30% for family, though specific premium amounts are not reported
- Life insurance (employee): $33, fully employer-paid
Leave provisions:
- Personal days: 3 annually
- Sick-leave bank: Available with unspecified maximum accumulation
- No severance pay, early retirement program, or traditional longevity pay reported
The district does maintain a longevity structure that increases the salary schedule maximum based on degree attainment: BA max $65,364, MA max $111,672, MA+30 max $123,341, and Highest max $127,462. However, the specific conditions and implementation of this progression are not detailed in available data.
Pension and retirement benefits
Center Cass SD 66 participates in the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) of Illinois, the state-administered pension plan covering public school educators. The 2025–26 baseline indicates that TRS is board-paid at 1% of salary and does not appear in the salary schedule itself, meaning employer contributions to the state system are separate from published wage figures. This structure is standard across Illinois public schools and provides defined-benefit retirement security independent of district discretion.
Settlement history and base salary trends
Over the past nine years, the district's labor settlements have established a pattern of modest base salary increases. The most recent agreement (2024–25–2025–26) provides a 2.50% year-one increase. Prior years show:
| Contract Period | Year 1 | Year 2 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024–25–2025–26 | 2.50% | 2.50% | Agreed |
| 2023–24–2024–25 | 3.00% | 3.00% | Agreed |
| 2022–23–2023–24 | 2.50% | 2.50% | Agreed |
| 2021–22–2022–23 | 2.00% | 2.00% | Agreed |
| 2020–21–2021–22 | 2.00% | 2.00% | Agreed |
| 2019–20–2020–21 | 2.00% | 2.00% | Agreed |
| 2018–19–2019–20 | 4.55% | 6.00% | Agreed |
| 2016–17–2017–18 | 1.00% | 1.00% | Agreed |
| 2015–16–2016–17 | 1.50% | 1.50% | Agreed |
The 2018–19–2019–20 cycle stands out with 4.55% and 6.00% increases, the highest in this nine-year window. The most recent three-year period (2022–23 through 2024–25) has averaged approximately 2.67% annually, slightly above the long-term average of approximately 2.47% across all nine cycles.
Comparative context within DuPage County
The district's 2024–25 base increase of 2.50% sits squarely within the middle of DuPage County comparables:
- Higher: Butler SD 53 (6.52%), Benjamin SD 25 (3.00%), CCSD 180 (2.50%, tied)
- Lower: CCSD 89 (2.21%), Addison SD 4 (2.00%), Bloomingdale SD 13 (2.00%), CCSD 93 (1.25%), Bensenville SD 2 (0.25%)
This positioning suggests the district maintains competitive alignment with local peer systems while avoiding the high-increase outlier status of Butler SD 53. The median outcome across the nine comparable districts listed is approximately 2.00–2.21%, indicating Center Cass SD 66 is slightly above the county norm.
Available contract data and limitations
As of the date this report was prepared, no current collective bargaining agreement text has been extracted and published on CollBar's district page. The salary schedules, key contract clauses, and detailed agreement language remain unavailable. This limits analysis to state-reported baseline figures and settled percentage increases, excluding specifics on:
- Grievance procedures and arbitration mechanisms
- Class-size limits or workload provisions
- Professional development funding
- Insurance plan design details and cost-sharing tiers
- Seniority, reduction-in-force, and recall procedures
- Supplemental pay for extra duties
- Evaluation and performance metrics
The next contract cycle and its specific terms will be important to monitor for any deviation from recent settlement patterns.
Key takeaways
Steady, moderate growth: Base salary increases have averaged 2.47% annually over nine years, with recent cycles holding at or slightly above 2.50%. The district has maintained predictable compensation growth without aggressive spikes or reductions.
Median DuPage positioning: Center Cass SD 66's current 2.50% increase places it mid-range among local comparables, suggesting neither aggressive competition for talent nor fiscal constraint relative to peer systems.
Back-loaded salary schedules with long advancement: Teachers reach top-of-schedule after 17 years in most lanes, consistent with Illinois practice. Master's degree holders can achieve $93,981–$102,791 at full advancement, or higher with additional certification.
Strong employee-only health coverage: The district covers 90% of employee-only health premiums, a relatively generous employer contribution. Family coverage support at 30% is typical for public-sector systems managing cost growth.
Incomplete contract transparency: The absence of extracted agreement language means stakeholders cannot yet assess non-salary provisions, dispute resolution terms, or other contract mechanics through CollBar's published report.
Adequate but not exceptional administrative compensation: The superintendent salary of $227,810 and principal range of $126,000–$128,000 reflect regional norms for districts of Center Cass's size.
Source and scope
This report draws from CollBar's Center Cass SD 66 district page, accessed at the URL identifier Illinois District 19022066002. Figures reflect the ISBE-reported salary and benefit baselines for 2024–25 and 2025–26, as well as settled percentage increases from fiscal years 2015–16 through 2024–25.
CollBar aggregates public data from state education boards, FOIA requests, and published settlement announcements. The figures presented here are factual summaries of that data and do not constitute independent audit findings, legal interpretation, or predictions of future outcomes. No supplemental web context or news coverage was available to augment the primary source data for this report.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the current contract status for Center Cass SD 66?
The 2024–25–2025–26 agreement is settled at 2.50% base increase per year for two years. No contract expiration date or subsequent negotiation timeline is published in the available data.
How does the district's teacher salary compare to regional standards?
The 2024–25 average classroom teacher salary of $86,388 and median of $86,218 reflect typical mid-to-upper compensation for suburban Illinois districts of similar size. Direct comparison requires matching against specific peer cohorts by student population and county. DuPage County districts shown in this report's comparables table range from $2.00% to 6.52% recent growth, suggesting moderate local variation.
What are the key differences between BA, MA, and MA+30 salary lanes?
The district maintains four salary lanes differentiated by credential. The BA lane runs 7 years; MA, MA+30, and Highest lanes run 17 years. A Master's degree holder earns approximately $5,000–$9,000 more at entry than BA holders, and can advance to $93,981–$102,791 depending on credits. The Highest lane tops at $110,000 but entry and advancement steps are not fully detailed.
Are there details on sick leave, personal days, and paid time off?
The district offers 3 personal days annually and maintains a sick-leave bank with unspecified maximum accumulation. Beyond these baseline figures, implementation details—such as carryover caps, use policies, and banking rules—are not available in the extracted data.
What percentage of health insurance costs does the district cover?
For employee-only coverage, the district covers 90% of the annual premium ($9,628 in 2025–26), with employees paying 10%. For family coverage, the employer pays 30% of the $19,710 premium; employees cover the remaining 70%. Dental and vision are fully employer-paid for employees only; family dental and vision are employee-paid.
Why is no contract document available yet?
CollBar's extraction and publication process relies on FOIA requests, union disclosures, and district transparency. Not all districts publish full agreement text online. The absence of an extracted contract indicates the full document has not yet been filed or released in a format supporting detailed clause-level review. Stakeholders can request the agreement directly from the district or the exclusive bargaining representative.
How CollBar Can Help
CollBar specializes in public-sector HR and labor-relations consulting, with deep expertise in Illinois school finance, compensation analysis, and union negotiations. If your organization is benchmarking against Center Cass SD 66, preparing for negotiations, or seeking to understand comparative compensation trends across DuPage County, CollBar can help you:
- Access and analyze complete contract language once published
- Build salary and benefit comparison models across peer districts
- Develop negotiation strategies informed by regional settlement patterns
- Assess compliance and risk in existing agreements
- Monitor contract expiration timelines and settlement activity
For a confidential consultation or to discuss how CollBar's platform and expertise serve public-sector employers and unions, contact CollBar at (419) 350-8420 or visit the full district profile at CollBar's Center Cass SD 66 page.
