Dear Educators,
As we near tomorrow’s deadline for reaching an agreement, I wanted to share an update on the progress we made with DCTA in our negotiation session today.
Where We Started Today
In our proposal to DCTA last week, we proposed adding $23 million to improve our compensation system for teachers and specialized service providers (SSPs). That means teachers and SSPs would, on average, see an increase of 10% in their base pay next year.
In addition to increasing our investment into educator compensation, we have also proposed a simple, transparent table that helps our educators see their compensation in a predictable fashion. To get closer to the DCTA structure, we also added a sixth lane and teachers/SSPs can now access a lane change based on the accumulation of additional credits beyond a master’s degree.
See what the new salary table looks like
here
. More than 3,300 educators have logged in and used our
salary finder to see how our latest proposal impacts their compensation and more than 600 teachers joined our tele-town hall yesterday.
What Happened Today
Today was a day of hard work for both teams. DCTA presented two versions of a counter proposal over the course of the day. Our team is reviewing their latest version and we will continue negotiating tomorrow.
We also brought forth two proposals:
- To further support our educators who pursue additional education, we proposed increasing our current tuition and student loan reimbursement by 50%, up to $6,000 ($1,000 a year).
- We also started the discussion with DCTA on how we will honor the work our educators have already done with the Professional Development Units (PDUs) they have completed. We proposed that teachers/SSPs who have “banked” PDUs can be paid out at $850 per year, with a maximum of two per year for $1,700.
We still have work to do. We remain millions of dollars apart, even with the deep and significant cuts we are making in central office. We have committed $7 million of those cuts to teacher compensation, and we plan on additional central office reductions to ensure we can also increase compensation for our lower-wage employees such as paraprofessionals, bus drivers and others.
Another area where we remain in disagreement is in how we prioritize our commitment to service in high-poverty schools. We believe educators who continue to serve in our most highly impacted schools should receive higher compensation for this work.
- For Title I schools (60% free and reduced lunch or greater): $2,500 in the DPS proposal vs. $1,500 in DCTA’s proposal.
- For 30 of our highest priority schools: an extra $2,500 on top of the Title I incentive in the DPS proposal vs. $0 additional in DCTA’s proposal.
We have seen a 6% increase in our retention in our highest-priority schools since we began the current high incentives for these schools and we believe it is critically important to continue this commitment in service of closing the opportunity gap for our most vulnerable students in our most highly-impacted schools.
Next Steps
We will return to the negotiation table tomorrow and we will continue bargaining in good faith. If you have a moment to tune in, you can either watch live or watch the recorded version after the meeting ends on
DPS TV. Please know we are hopeful we will find common ground and reach an agreement tomorrow.
Make Your Voice Heard
In the event we do not reach an agreement and DCTA members proceed with their strike vote, we want to ensure all of our teachers know how to make their voices heard. Please email us at
greatteachers@dpsk12.org and DCTA to share your thoughts on the proposals.
While we are doing everything we can to reach an agreement tomorrow, in the event of a strike vote, only DCTA union members are eligible to vote and they must vote in person. However, please know that all DPS teachers and SSPs have the option to sign up to be a member and make their voice heard on the voting days. Please reach out to your DCTA representative if you would like more details about the vote.
We know time is short to find a resolution, and we are ready to work hard with DCTA tomorrow to reach an agreement. Please stay tuned for updates in Teacher Weekly and by visiting
greatteachers.dpsk12.org.
Warm Regards,
Susana
