Chicago City Wire

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is set to vote on a new $1.5 billion contract, following a series of contentious negotiations that fall short of the union’s original goals. "CTU union leadership over-promised and under-delivered considering the millions of dollars it spent to help elect Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and new members of the school board, to attempt to win a 'transformative' contract," said Mailee Smith, senior director of labor policy for the Illinois Policy Institute. Smith added, "As we saw with its previous contract, every time CTU gets more money, it doesn’t translate into better outcomes for teachers or students. It usually just translates to more chaos – all on the taxpayers' dime."

The contract, spanning four years, includes a 4-5% cost of living raises each year for teachers, bringing the average salary to $114,429. This is short of the CTU's demand for a 9% raise. Additionally, the union sought funding for various initiatives, including carbon neutrality, electric buses, and CTA passes for faculty and students, which did not make it to the final agreement.

The contract provisions also allow for the hiring of 800-900 additional staff in special education and bilingual positions, significantly less than the 13,900 positions CTU had originally sought. Student instructional time will remain unchanged, with teachers allotted 10 extra minutes of preparation time daily. The union's proposal to reduce instructional time for planning purposes was rejected.

On the curriculum front, teachers will have the opportunity to supplement it, and there is a mechanism to challenge lesson content if found problematic. Although CTU had demanded greater autonomy over curriculums, this compromise gives some leverage to educators and community members.

A significant feature of the contract is the creation of 50 "Sustainable Community Schools," increasing their total to 70. These schools, providing extended health and social services, were a point of contention as CTU initially aimed for 180 such schools. Furthermore, the contract enacts a moratorium on new charter schools, limiting charter school expansion and potentially paving the way for closures, meeting CTU's demand in this area.

The agreement also contains controversial measures regarding student privacy. The contract states that teachers "will not be required to reveal a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity without the student’s permission" unless necessary for health or safety reasons. This clause aligns with CTU's push for privacy measures.

Despite the contract's advancements in specific areas, CTU's larger vision, which carried an estimated $10 billion cost, largely remains unfulfilled without funding for several key projects. The coming days will reveal the union membership's stance on this comprehensive yet constrained agreement. For further details on the cost of the CTU contract, visit illin.is/CTUcontract.