Denver Public Schools, union reach tentative agreement to end city's teachers strike

Denver’s first teachers strike in 25 years will come to an end after a record-setting, all-night bargaining session produced a new compensation deal shortly before dawn Thursday that labor leaders say will help better retain the district’s educators.

The Denver Classroom Teachers Association initiated the strike Monday, decrying Denver Public Schools’ incentive-based pay system and seeking better wages and more dependable financial advancement for the city’s career teachers.

The walkout by more than 2,600 educators over the last three days left Denver’s schools short-staffed and preschools classes canceled, with substitutes and district administrators filling in, and complaints from students in local high schools that they were being shown movies, given crosswords and otherwise not doing much learning.

The new deal sees DPS putting forward an additional $23.1 million toward teacher compensation, gives average raises of 11.7 percent next year and establishes a new salary schedule that starts at $45,800 a year and tops out at $100,000 annually.

Read the rest at: https://www.denverpost.com/2019/02/14/denver-teachers-strike-agreement-reached/