Union and district negotiators in Ithaca agreed to press for a shared salary dataset and a calendar for follow-up bargaining sessions, saying both parties need the same data to meaningfully discuss wage changes.

At the end of the meeting negotiators reiterated a deadline: the union asked for any counterproposal language by Friday the 16th so members could caucus and prepare for the week of meetings. The district agreed to provide a dataset containing current salaries, years of ICSD service, recognized prior service and graduate credits, though staff cautioned the file will likely be imperfect and may require follow‑up verification.

Negotiators said the parties plan an internal team meeting on May 19 and a bargaining session for May 22; they also noted there are only three scheduled sessions left before the existing contract expires in mid‑June. District staff warned compiling a fully verified historical dataset will take time because personnel records dating back many years sometimes require line‑by‑line verification. The district offered to provide an initial, best‑available dataset quickly and to flag obvious outliers for review.

Both sides said they want a costed dollar total for any salary proposal submitted, and the union asked that each district proposal include an overall cost figure so both sides can compare “salary pots” on the same basis. The union reported prior spreadsheet tallies that the parties interpreted differently; negotiators acknowledged earlier totals (the union cited a figure produced from district-provided rows) and said reconciling those totals is necessary before discussing step‑and‑lane or reclassification proposals.

The parties agreed not to resume detailed salary bargaining until the shared dataset has been exchanged, while also acknowledging some provisional discussions could proceed based on an initial dataset and later be corrected if personnel records change the underlying calculations.

Next steps noted on the record included: exchange of available salary data, union submission of counter language by May 16, and caucuses ahead of the May 19/22 meetings.