DC Public Schools reaches tentative agreement with teachers' union

WASHINGTON - D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) have reached a tentative contract agreement with the Washington Teachers' Union (WTU), according to Mayor Muriel Bowser's office.

According to a tweet from the WTU, the agreement was reached on Tuesday, ending three years of contract negotiations.

WTU says the new contract agreement includes:

A 12-percent salary increase over four years, with a 4-percent increase this year.
An additional 4-percent signing bonus
All benefits included and paid for
A significant increase in administrative premium

Following the agreement, Mayor Bowser, DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee, and WTU President Jacqueline Pogue Lyons released the following statement:

"The more than 5,000 DCPS educators represented in this agreement play an essential role in creating a loving, challenging and joyful school experience for thousands of young people across our city every single day. Today, we are proud to reach an agreement that delivers robust back pay in recognition of the tireless efforts and sacrifice our teachers have made over the past three years. With a 12 percent increase in salary over four years and a 4 percent retention bonus, this agreement provides our educators with competitive raises that will help the district to retain and attract the best talent for our schools.

We love our teachers, and we want Washington, D.C., to be the number one city for teachers—a city where teachers stay at their schools and live in our city. Beyond pay and benefits, it was important for this agreement to reflect the respect the district has for teachers and the work they do for D.C.'s students. We will continue to work together and across government to make sure our schools, teachers and students have everything they need to do well.

Together, we want to thank all of our DCPS teachers for consistently making D.C. proud, building and keeping the trust of our families, and above all, loving and empowering our young people. We believe this tentative agreement is fair for teachers and good for students. Our hope is that WTU members are able to vote on it soon and that we can send it to the Council of the District of Columbia in December for approval."

"There are many more details we’ll share soon so please keep an eye out," WTU added in its tweet. "We are thankful for you, for your letters and calls to the mayor, and for waking up early with us to march. And we’re thankful for a fair contract."

As mentioned in the statement above, the tentative agreement will not take effect until it is voted on by WTU members, and sent over to the D.C. Council for approval.

The last union contract between DCPS and WTU ended in September 2019.