Baltimore City teachers will work under a new two-year agreement that promises “real-time compensation” for professional development and annual raises under a revamped career ladder.
School commissioners voted to adopt the updated contract in a meeting Tuesday night after months of stalled negotiations. Last October, the board let a career ladder structure in place since 2011 expire to establish a new model more in-line with the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.
The Baltimore Teachers Union raised concerns from the get-go about creating an entirely new system. Zach Taylor, the union’s director of research and negotiations, told WYPR in July that district leaders wanted to add extra barriers to earning salary increases from national board certification or graduate degrees.
“Our district has not clarified what these additional duties would be,” Taylor said. “It's sort of a blank check that they want.”
The Accountability and Implementation Board, which governs local districts’ progress with the Blueprint, issued a warning to city leaders at their November meeting for being one of seven districts yet to receive approval on their implementation plan — largely because they hadn’t submitted an updated teacher career ladder.
In a press release Tuesday, city school leaders said the new structure will offer “multiple teacher leadership roles and opportunities for career advancement without leaving the classroom.”
Teachers are also expected to receive 3% salary increases each year under the new contract. And those with master's degrees will earn a higher base salary by next school year.
“We have always agreed with the teachers union that they deserve increased compensation and increased opportunities to advance professionally with us,” CEO Sonja Santelises said in the press release.
District leaders did not respond to requests for more information.
City schools contract negotiations aren’t done. At Tuesday’s board meeting, engagement coordinator Nathan Ferrell said the union is still at an impasse with the district about fairly compensating paraprofessional and school-related personnel (PSRP).
These staff — ranging from community school coordinators to payroll specialists — “are the face, the voice and the front line of every school community,” Ferell said. “We can't keep on taking out of the emotional and physical bank accounts of our PSRP members and not put something back into them.”
Ferell said Baltimore City paraprofessionals make less money than those in neighboring districts like Baltimore County, and don’t receive raises when they earn additional college degrees.
