Jeffco Public Schools, teachers union reach settlement on pay
After months of negotiations, Jeffco Public Schools and the Jefferson County Education Association have reached a tentative agreement on a raise for educators.
The two groups had previously been at an impasse after failing to agree on several items, including pay and an increase in planning time for teachers.
The new salary schedule offered by the district starts at $50,000, an increase from $43,000 for first-year teachers with no graduate credits. The schedule ends just shy of $100,000 for educators with 90 graduate credits and a master's degree. On average, teachers will see a roughly 9% increase in pay.
There is also a tentative agreement for more equity between elementary and secondary teachers in planning time.
The tentative agreement comes after 12 bargaining sessions throughout the summer. The JCEA bargaining team declared an impasse after those sessions did not result in any significant increase in compensation or planning time for educators.
"Our new salary schedule is a crucial step in the right direction and finally reflects that educators are highly trained professionals, and every hard earned training and credit hour benefits our students," JCEA President Brooke Williams said in a statement Thursday.
"In Jeffco Public Schools, we have been for a very long time not as competitive as we have needed to be in the compensation market for our educators and for our education support professional," Jeffco Superintendent Tracy Dorland said to CBS News Colorado. "Through the negotiations this spring and last night with both our JESPA and JCEA colleagues, we have become much more competitive and we have aligned compensation for all of our employees more to market value and I am very proud of that work."
Last week, Jeffco Public Schools and JESPA, the union representing professional support staff in the district, agreed to a 44% increase to a starting hourly wage of $18 starting in September 2023.
The final vote is set for next week.
