DPS, Denver union agree to 8.7% salary increase for teachers; eliminate an incentive
The state's largest school district and its teachers union have tentatively reached agreement on a new contract.
After nearly 24 hours of ongoing negotiations a deal was struck to give Denver Public School teachers an 8.7% increase in pay.
The Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA), originally asked for 12%, and the district initially offered 3.5%.
According to the letter released by Superintendent Alex Marrero, the new agreement includes a starting teacher salary of $50,130 and an additional school district investment of $2.5 million dollars toward employee benefits.
Also part of the agreement benefiting teachers is protected non-classroom time. That includes a 45-minute duty-free lunch and at least 300 minutes of self-directed planning time every week for elementary teachers and 345 minutes each week for those in secondary schools. Marrero noted these allotments add up to the most for teachers in any metro area school district.
"As we continue our great reset of the experiences Denver Public Schools offers, I look forward to working alongside all of our educators, families and community members as we elevate the experience of our students, families and other stakeholders," Marrero wrote in the release. "Together, we will fulfill our promise of ensuring that each and every DPS student graduates well-prepared to be successful in any path they choose"
Denver teachers say the tentative agreement positions DPS with a competitive salary schedule. Dana Berge, with the DCTA bargaining team said, "It is going to be viewed as one of the best in the metro area and I think that'll attract and retain educators in DPS and I think that was a huge goal of ours."
The increased investment of more than $40 million dollars in teacher compensation comes as DPS prepares to face a structural deficit from declining enrollment.
The tentative contract does away with a high priority incentive designed to draw teachers to the 30 schools with the highest needs, said CU Denver's Parker Baxter, director of the Center for Education Policy Analysis, "Doing away with these incentives for teaching in the hardest to serve schools really could harm the district's ability to attract high quality educators to the schools where they're needed most."
The parties agreed to end the special incentive which currently goes to 1,000 educators in the district's highest poverty schools. They're opting to use those funds instead to spread across the district to hire additional special service providers (SSP) and to expand the number of DCTA work roles (job titles/positions) by 5% so that instead of 30% of DCTA roles qualifying for the incentive, now 35% do.
Baxter says this may have negative implications for the district's stated commitment to equity, "That's more difficult in an environment where the focus is really on spreading money across the system...rather than sending resources to where they're needed most."
Superintendent Marrero believes the new terms will advance the cause of equity.
He said, "Another 3 year contract and wait until three years. See what we're gonna do nationally."
Like other districts, DPS is facing the prospect of closing schools due to declining enrollment.
The tentative agreement now proceeds through a ratification process.
