Posts tagged class sizes
Chicago teachers reach contract deal for the first time in more than a decade without a strike
April 15, 2025 // For the first time in over a decade, Chicago’s public school teachers have a new contract without a strike or threat of a walkout. The four-year agreement includes pay hikes, hiring more teachers and class size limits.
Fremont teachers union meets with district leaders as possible strike looms
April 9, 2025 // Fremont teachers rallied outside the Fremont Unified District Teachers Association headquarters Monday afternoon as union representatives met with Fremont Unified School District leaders. The "fact-finding hearing" and negotiations could determine whether 2,000 instructors go on strike, impacting about 30,000 students.
CTU contract: Union’s tentative agreement with CPS will cost $1.5 billion; how will the city pay?
April 3, 2025 // The Civic Federation weighed in on the budget back-and-forth Tuesday. "That's the million-dollar question — or rather, the hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars question," the Civic Federation sad in a statement. "As of now, we don't have any further insight into how CPS plans to pay for the contract beyond the first year." Mayor Brandon Johnson was asked about that $175 million pension payment. "The contract is paid for by a separate entity of government, the Chicago Public Schools. And that, in part, is the responsibility of the CEO to be able to come up with mechanisms to be able to satisfy that," said Mayor Johnson. Martinez's suggestion to cover the pension payment is a tax levy.
Dual enrollment students’ classes could be disrupted by looming community college strike in Philly
March 19, 2025 // Over the weekend, 97% of the community college’s staff and faculty union members voted to authorize a strike, should their union and the college’s administration fail to reach a contract agreement. The union is demanding pay raises that keep pace with inflation and class size reductions, the return of a child care center on campus, and subsidized transit passes for staff and students. The vote means union members agreed to allow their leadership to call a strike at any time, but the faculty are not on strike.
OREGON: Salem-Keizer teachers union to take strike vote next week, could strike early April
March 13, 2024 // “If there is a teachers strike, unfortunately, our schools would have to close. We simply cannot keep them open without our licensed staff, and so this means a few things, it’s time for families to start preparing for that possibility. We will not be able to serve students in our buildings,” she said.
NYC Teachers, Migrant Students, and The Clash of Two Titans
January 27, 2024 // Among those policies were Assembly Bill A6328A and Senate Bill S9460. SB 9460 placed a mandatory limitation on the number of students per teacher—which will predominantly benefit wealthier areas. According to an analysis from the city’s Independent Budget Office (IBO), the law will require at least an additional 17,700 new teachers by 2027—when the law takes full effect. Officials have tried to warn of the law’s cost tradeoffs, namely that because the city’s highest-poverty schools already have smaller classes, they stand to benefit the least from the state’s class size cap. This means that funding will benefit wealthier areas, as opposed to the highest-poverty areas. Assembly Bill A6328A, also supported by UFT, codified migrants as a protected class, extending the right to a free education for every resident between the ages of 5 to 21, regardless of citizenship status. Since the new laws have passed, it’s estimated that 53,000 new migrant students have enrolled into public schools, 85% of which are non-English speaking.
Schools in Portland, Oregon, reach tentative deal with teachers union after nearly month-long strike
November 27, 2023 // Students last attended school on Halloween. The deal would provide educators with a 13.8% cumulative cost-of-living increase over the next three years and about half of all educators would earn an extra 10.6% from yearly step increases, PPS said. The agreement would also add classroom time for elementary and middle grades starting next year and increase teacher planning time by 90 minutes each week for elementary and middle-aged classrooms.
Teachers strike averted in Fresno schools. District, union reach contract agreement
November 3, 2023 // Bonilla said the new contract includes progress on the four major union priorities: “across the board” class size reduction, reduced special education caseload, competitive pay for teachers and nurses, and continued and stable health coverage. Additionally, Bonilla said the agreement includes investments in new classroom spaces, comprehensive special education caseload guidelines and “an actionable plan” to get a nurse at every school site, multi-million dollar investments in students’ social-emotional support and a competitive salary package.
Teachers unions demand housing, transportation and other student supports during negotiations
May 26, 2023 // Teachers unions in school districts across the country are demanding improved salaries, benefits and class sizes when it’s time to renew their contracts. They are also leveraging negotiations to benefit school employees, students and their families. This process, known as bargaining in the common good, has been used to gain agreements on a host of items, such as housing assistance for low-income students, updating antiquated school facilities and increasing the number of psychologists, social workers and nurses on campuses.
Long Island teachers remain without contract after 12 years
May 8, 2023 // Long Island teachers on April 23 protested over the ongoing, 12-year contract negotiation impasse between the Lawrence Teachers’ Association (LTA) and the Lawrence Union Free School District. The Lawrence Union Free School District is located in Cedarhurst, New York. The previous contract ended in 2011, and teachers in the school district have continued to work under the terms of the expired contract due to the prolonged contract negotiations.