Chicago Teachers Union will share proposed contract with Chicago Public Schools bargaining team after one year of discussions

CHICAGO (WLS) — There were new details Friday in the negotiations over a new contract for Chicago Public Schools teachers.

The Chicago Teachers Union said it has received a set of proposals that it will present to its big bargaining team on Monday.

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For more than ten years, the Chicago Teachers Union has typically resolved contract disputes through strikes, but this time is different. Following a year of challenging negotiations, the CTU and Chicago Public Schools have managed to reach a potential agreement without the need for any job actions.

“We had over 720 proposals, and we widdled those down,” CTU counsel Latoyia Kimbrough said.

This week, bargaining came down to multiple contentious issues: veteran educator pay, elementary teacher planning time and teachers evaluations.

On Monday, the CTU will present its proposed contract to its significant bargaining team for consideration. The team from the union will have the option to either approve the offer or return it to the negotiation table for further discussions.

CTU calls it a transformative contract. Others say it’s one the school district cannot afford.

“At the moment, the necessary funds are more or less in place,” stated Joe Ferguson from the Civic Federation. “The current expectation is that this contract will involve greater financial commitments towards the later years, making it a back-loaded agreement.”

While CPS has the money to retroactively fund the contract for the current school year, Ferguson has been warning CPS the district will have a tough time paying for the remaining three years of the deal, given the huge deficit CPS faces.

“What we know is that there’s going to have to be a pretty significant reckoning with the right sizing of the district, long term capital planning, long term financial planning,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson said revenue streams are dried up because taxpayers are likely tapped out with property tax increases. A bill has been introduced in Springfield for the state to take over CPS, a move Ferguson says may be necessary.

“We may be facing the prospect of needing a school Finance Authority reactivation at the state level, which would put the financial guardrails and standards and breaks on a lot of what’s been going on,” Ferguson said.

CTU’s Big Bargaining team will meet Monday afternoon. If it approves the offer, the deal must be ratified by the union’s 730 member House of Delegates before a full membership vote. In a statement. CPS says it continues to negotiate details of the pending proposed contract.

CPS shared the following statement Friday afternoon:

“Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and leadership from the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) continued to negotiate details of a pending proposed contract and we are pleased with the progress that has been made on the remaining issues. CPS respects CTU’s process of bringing a comprehensive package to its big bargaining team for approval, after which they will present the package to the House of Delegates in the near future. Our goal has always been to reach a fair contract resolution that recognizes the significant contributions of our educators while being mindful of our budgetary limitations and fiduciary responsibilities.”