CTU bargainers approve tentative contract deal. Here’s what you need to know.

A key Chicago Teachers Union committee spent hours Monday going through a hefty package of proposals before finally approving a tentative agreement with Chicago Public Schools, a significant step toward finalizing a deal on a new four-year contract.

The proposed settlement cleared the hurdle of the union’s “big bargaining team,” a group of 65 educators that has negotiated with the school district for almost a year. A meeting of the CTU’s 730-member House of Delegates is Wednesday, with a ratification vote by all 30,000 members expected in the next week or two.

The contract deal comes after months of conflict between Mayor Brandon Johnson, the Board of Education and the CTU. Union President Stacy Davis Gates on Monday said this contract was the first time in more than a decade the union was not fighting with the mayor, who is aligned with CTU, but that the CEO was “perhaps the most hostile” it has negotiated with.

CEO Pedro Martinez pushed back Monday evening on that characterization, saying that his team was honest and kept to its values. He said his team was never combative, but they corrected misinformation.

With a settled contract, one major source of conflict is near resolution. But the school board will now have to turn its attention to a looming budget deficit, as well as finding a new CEO.

Once CTU members ratify the contract, the school board will have to approve it. Because the contract expired last June, the board also will have to amend its current budget to provide retroactive pay increases. A vote on that budget amendment and the unsuccessful efforts by the mayor's office to convince CPS to make a city pension payment that covers CPS workers have been a major source of conflict at the board.

Martinez said the contract will cost the school district $1.5 billion over four years. He said CTU initially asked for a lot more and Martinez said he was proud they held their ground. He has long said he was focused on landing a contract that the cash-strapped district could afford. Even though the district will be facing a deficit of about $700 million once this contract is approved, Martinez believes it is a sustainable investment.

“There's never been a moment where my team didn't act in good faith,” Martinez said. “There wasn't a moment where [the CPS negotiations team] weren't listening to our staff ... even if the proposal wasn't the right proposal, and we always really stood true to our values.”

CTU members will get 4% raises in the first year, then up to 5% in the next three. Along with raises that teachers also receive annually as they gain experience, CPS says raises can go as high as 7.5% or 8.5% a year. The median teacher will earn $95,000 under the tentative deal, CPS said. One of the union’s most significant wins was notching extra raises for veteran educators — guaranteeing annual increases through 25 years with the district.

CPS also gave elementary school teachers an additional 10 minutes of planning time per day. CPS officials noted that CTU wanted 30 more minutes and painted the union acceptance of 10 minutes as a major win . But three principal-directed professional development days each year will become days when teachers do their own planning.

“We're giving teachers more flexibility and more support and prep, but at the same time it is not coming out of the instructional day of the children and that, and that was that that was what we were trying to really do,” Martinez said.

Davis Gates said the union regaining its right to bargain over nontraditional issues outside of salary and benefits in 2021, for the first time in 30 years, made a difference.

“This is the first time where teachers begin to regain their voice and agency and how we should conduct school,” she said. “In Chicago Public Schools, they become co-producers and not reactors.

“We don’t want this to be a contract. We want this to catalyze a different way of doing the work,” she said.

Here are key changes in the tentative contract, according to CTU and CPS officials.

Sports, arts, music: aiming for a better school experience

Budget constraints, as well as the pressure to focus more on core instruction, has long limited art, music and sports in Chicago schools. As CTU has pointed out, suburban schools often have more robust offerings in these areas. In addition, CPS schools with affluent parents often use fundraising to supplement arts and sports programming, creating disparities between schools.

CPS agreed to commit $10 million — up from $5 million in the past — for uniforms, buses to games and supplies and to make sure this money is directed to schools with students from mostly low-income families. Coaches also will see an increase in their stipends, bringing them closer to suburban coaches.

The CTU also got the district to agree to create a cadre of art and music teachers that will be available to elementary schools without any arts programming or only one offering. This will especially help small schools that have trouble filling art positions.

Lower class sizes

Studies show small class sizes can make a big difference, especially for low-income students. Yet lowering class size is difficult because it is costly.

With bargaining rights restored by the state Legislature, this was the first contract where CTU could directly negotiate over class size, though it has made it an issue in previous contract fights.

The big battle has always been over what is considered overcrowded and in need of relief. In this contract, CTU pushed to lower that threshold at every level. Kindergarten classes will see the most dramatic reduction, from 32 to 25 students. And classes with more than 23 students will automatically get an assistant teacher. Most other grade levels will go from a maximum of 36 or 32 students to an average of 29.

CPS agreed to $40 million to address class size issues, up from the $25 million in the 2019 contract. Altogether, CTU says at least 400 teaching assistants will be hired under this contract, most to make class sizes more manageable and to give all preschool classes an assistant. CTU also is touting that CPS agreed to take action on class size early in the year, rather than waiting until the 20th day for the official enrollment count.

Librarians make a comeback

Chicago kids could see dozens more librarians in their schools over the next few years.

The CTU has made a stink about a lack of libraries in CPS for more than a decade. When schools lost funding over the years, librarians and libraries were often one of the first to be cut. Today, about four in five CPS schools don’t have a librarian.

The tentative agreement guarantees 90 new librarian positions over the next three years — 30 each year. But CPS officials said these will not necessarily be new staff and that schools will have to use their existing allocation for a librarian. The district will pay for 40 educators to receive a library endorsement at a local university every year.

And a new program will be aimed at redeveloping some libraries by figuring out what resources schools may need, and how to secure book collections.

Bilingual and special education

Quinella Bounds works as a special education case manager at two schools. She develops and monitors the education plans for almost 200 students. This contract ensures that no case manager will have more than 70 students.

“I will be able to do what the job really entails,” she said. “I will be able to collaborate with general education teachers, and to work with students and parents. That’s phenomenal.”

In addition, special education teachers will get more planning time and time to work with general education teachers under the tentative contract.

Also, CTU sought to address some concerns around bilingual education as CPS has seen a surge in students needing language support. The union convinced the district to double the number of teachers working with students who need English Language instruction.

Protections in the Trump era

Both CPS officials and CTU educators have vowed to combat the effects of President Donald Trump’s administration in a number of areas.

The new CTU contract cements sanctuary protections for immigrant students and families, barring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from entering schools without a warrant, giving employees leave for immigration matters and providing more resources to English language learners.

CPS has also agreed to hire several “gender support coordinators,” and set a requirement that preferred names and pronouns be used at all times.

The contract also guarantees the right to abortion coverage for school workers, promising to cover the full cost of care after the insurance deductible.

On climate change, the district and union agreed to partner on a joint committee for climate preparedness, to install solar panels at 30 schools, work to remove lead pipes from service lines connected to schools and introduce scratch kitchens at 25 schools.

Nader Issa covers education for the Chicago Sun-Times. Sarah Karp covers education for WBEZ. Follow her on X @WBEZeducation and @sskedreporter.