Chicago Teachers Union, Chicago Public Schools reach tentative agreement on contract after nearly a year of negotiations

CHICAGO (WGN) — The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has reached a tentative agreement on a contract with Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

The deal comes after almost a year of negotiations between CPS and the CTU, with the CTU offering 700 different proposals.

Last week, the two parties had indicated that they were close to reaching a deal, but there were some hangups regarding how the Chicago Board of Education would pay for that contract, on top of reimbursing the city for a $175-million pension payment for non-teaching staff. It remains unclear how they overcame that hurdle.

The contract is currently being considered by the CTU’s Big Bargaining Team and includes a 4% cost of living increase in each of the four years of the deal, hiring more librarians and teacher assistants, 30 more sustainable community schools and $10 million into sports programs.

Teacher evaluations, elementary school prep time and veteran teacher pay have also been areas of contention throughout the bargaining process.

In order for the contract to be approved, CTU’s House of Delegates and 30,000 members must sign off on the deal.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, who was heavily supported in his election bid by the CTU, pressured CPS CEO Pedro Martinez to take out a loan to cover increasing district costs, but Martinez refused.

The final cost of the contract is unknown at this time, but city leaders expect CPS will likely need to raise property taxes, as well as need Tax Increment Financing surplus funding and help from the state to pay for it.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward) gave his reaction to the lengthy bargaining process.

“This chaos should have been done months ago. The reality is CTU and leadership there were asking for a contract which is unaffordable, and the reason is they have the mayor. They hoped the mayor would push this contract through. It was starting at 9% a year, ended up settling at 4% a year,” Villegas said.

The next step in approving the contract is a House of Delegates vote on Wednesday. An update from the CTU, however, is expected just after 9 a.m. Tuesday.

There are still more road bumps ahead for educators in Chicago as President Trump’s administration continues its efforts to dismantle the Department of Education.