CPS (Chicago Public Schools) and the 4% salary increase myth

There have been articles in all the local Chicagoland papers about teacher salaries and benefits, so I did a little digging on my own.  All teachers contracts (including salary schedules) are posted on the district websites.  I found the following information on http://www.cps-humanresources.org/Employee/Forms/SalAdm/FTTeachers38.6.pdf.

People were outraged that CPS teachers are getting 4% raises this year (as stated in their contracts).  Turns out they are not getting 4% raises, they are getting a lot more...  The 4% is the step increase - for example if a teacher with a BA degree and no experienced started last year, they would have made $45,450.  If that same teacher started this year (still with a BA and no experience) that teacher would make $47,268 - 4% more.  Now lets say that same teacher started last year making $45,450.  This year that same teacher has 1 more year experience, so they would be at step 2 in the salary calculation - making $49,725.  An increase of 9.4%.  For comparison sake, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell .4% last year.

Here are some more examples, straight from the salary schedule: