Dear Colleagues,
Last night, I joined DPS and DCTA as we continued negotiations on the structure of our compensation system for teachers and specialized service providers (SSPs). We were also joined by Jon Numair, a mediator who is supporting both parties in moving the conversation forward quickly and productively.
In yesterday’s meeting, DPS and DCTA made progress on a commitment to pay $2,800 a year for educators in hard-to-fill/staff positions. DPS also offered the opportunity to simplify and add transparency into the way ProComp is administered, which would have the additional benefit of introducing dollars to be applied to base-pay for teachers.
I continue to be encouraged by this progress -- granted, we all hope that the pace would be quicker, but that will come -- and optimistic that we will reach an agreement that ensures all educators at DPS receive fair and competitive compensation. DPS and DCTA are in agreement that the future compensation structure will mean that more money is invested in base pay and less in bonuses, and that we will have a transparent salary schedule -- so you will know what your compensation will look like over time.
While DPS is committed to honoring our five-year financial agreement with DCTA -- which includes that DPS will invest an additional $45 million into teacher compensation over the next three years -- I recognize more funding is crucial to our commitment to fair and competitive compensation for our educators. As I shared in my last update, we will continue to push for increased funding, and we are optimistic that the new governor's budget proposal -- to be released in January -- will include additional funding that can be used toward compensation. We are also committed to exploring additional avenues to increase funding for teacher compensation.
Last night’s meeting was the second of 10 negotiation sessions we have scheduled between now and when the ProComp agreement expires in January. We will continue these discussions at the next meeting on Dec. 4 and will keep sharing updates in this newsletter and on the
DCTA Updates page on The Commons.
Warmly,
Ron
Ron Cabrera, PhD
