With 11th-hour agreement, Chicago averts teachers strike
With a strike deadline looming, Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union reached a tentative agreement late Monday night on a four-year contract.
WMAQ-TV reports that union president Karen Lewis announced a four-year agreement, retroactive to last year, shortly before midnight, when the district's teachers were set to begin a strike.
The tentative agreement means that classes were able to go on as scheduled on Tuesday. The proposed contract still must receive approval from the union's membership.
The Chicago Sun-Times says under the agreement, in years two, three and four, teachers will receive the raises for added experience and education known as steps and lanes; the district had suspended those during negotiations.
Cost of living raises of 2 percent and then 2.5 percent also are forthcoming in the third and fourth years of the deal, Lewis says. Teachers are in year two of the agreement; the previous contract expired in June 2015.
The district also has agreed to lower the student-teacher ratio in kindergarten to second-grade classrooms with teaching assistants.
Video from WMAQ-TV:
About the Author
Mike Kennedy
Senior Editor
Mike Kennedy has been writing about education for American School & University since 1999. He also has reported on schools and other topics for The Chicago Tribune, The Kansas City Star, The Kansas City Times and City News Bureau of Chicago. He is a graduate of Michigan State University.