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Members of the Philadelphia teachers union voted to ratify the union’s new contract with the school district Thursday that includes annual 3% raises for three years and a $1,400 bonus for all members.
The vote, which comes days before the union’s current contract expires, puts an end to concerns that a teachers strike could disrupt the beginning of the school year. The union’s nearly 14,000 members include teachers, paraprofessionals, counselors, school nurses, and other school staff.
“Our goal for this collective bargaining agreement was really to set a floor for the future and build on the educational program for our members and for the children of the city of Philadelphia going forward,” said Arthur Steinberg, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
Steinberg said Thursday that about 4,500 members voted to ratify the three-year contract, or about 70% of all votes.
Along with raises, the contract ends the district’s controversial leave policy, often referred to as 3-5-7-9, that penalized teachers for taking sick leave. The new contract will include a new set of absence guidelines that “significantly improves” that policy, Steinberg said. A copy of the contract, along with the absence policy, was not made available to the press Thursday evening.
“The number one request from them was, I want to be able to use my 10 sick days without any consequence of discipline,” said Steinberg. “Now they can.”
The contract also introduces five weeks of paid parental leave for all new parents. Previously, teachers planning to take parental leave had to use sick time or take unpaid leave.
Teachers in Philadelphia’s public schools earned on average $85,719 last school year, according to state data. But some other school staff made considerably less, with paraprofessionals’ salary starting at $24,618 and secretaries’ starting at $27,669 for a 10-month school year, according to the union’s previous salary bands.
The new contract provides additional benefits to many members in those positions, including additional raises for some paraprofessionals and secretaries. It also creates limits on the hours paraprofessionals can work.
School district officials welcomed the contract when they announced the tentative agreement Sunday.
“We are pleased that we have reached a tentative three year agreement that both honors the hard work of our educators and maintains our record of strong financial stewardship,” Superintendent Tony Watlington said in a statement.
The school district will have to pay for teachers’ raises and other benefits while its own funding remains in limbo. State lawmakers have not yet finalized a state budget, which was due two months ago, leaving districts across the state uncertain about how much funding they will receive.
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed a budget that would include more money for Philadelphia’s schools, partially in response to a 2023 court decision that the state’s school funding system was unconstitutional because it left poorer districts underfunded. But some Republican lawmakers have resisted providing additional funding to the state’s largest district.
The delayed budget also means that school districts have not received expected payments from the state. The Philadelphia school district is waiting on around $465 million in expected payments, according to an analysis by the Pennsylvania State Education Association, a statewide education union.
Rebecca Redelmeier is a reporter at Chalkbeat Philadelphia. She writes about public schools, early childhood education, and issues that impact students, families, and educators across Philadelphia. Contact Rebecca at rredelmeier@chalkbeat.org.
