CPS and the CTU have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract after 11 months of tough negotiations.
The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools have reached a preliminary deal on a new collective bargaining agreement, the two sides announced Monday.
According to a press release from CPS, the proposed deal would ensure a pay increase of at least 16% for all teachers over the lifetime of the contract.
The Chicago Teachers Union will hold a press conference discussing parameters of the deal on Tuesday morning, the union said in a statement.
“Our CPS bargaining team has negotiated in good faith every step of the way and stayed true to our values for public education,” said CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, himself a CPS alum and CPS parent. “We made sure that this agreement respects the hard work of our talented educators and reflects what’s best for students.”
The new contract will first need to be approved by the union’s House of Delegates, according to officials. Once that hurdle is cleared, it would then go to the full membership of the union for final approval.
Union officials called the contract the “next step toward transforming our schools,” and praised negotiators for work over the last year on the parameters of the deal.
In addition to pay increases, the contract sets maximum classroom sizes for kindergarten (25 students), grades 1-through 3 (28), grades 4-through-8 (30) and high school (29-to-31), according to CPS.
Local
Teachers will receive an extra 10 minutes of prep time per day, and tuition reimbursement will be made available for bilingual education classes. Expanded insurance coverage for different types of therapy, and more funding for athletic staff are among the other chances in the preliminary agreement.
Further details will be released in coming days.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter.
