May 28, 2014
CINCINNATI—The Cincinnati Federation of Teachers announced this evening that teachers and support staff voted to ratify new contracts with the Cincinnati Public Schools. The agreement with teachers includes a reduction in non-state mandated testing to increase instructional time for students, greater collaboration to meet the needs of students with disabilities, a salary increase to become more competitive with the other Hamilton County school districts so that we can recruit, retain and promote the very best teachers and a commitment to co-design a revamped teacher development and evaluation process.
“This contract was successfully accomplished because both sides rolled up their sleeves and remained tenacious and persistent in working to reach an agreement that’s good for kids and fair to teachers,” said Julie Sellers, president of the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers. “It’s important that the new reforms and policies intended to improve teaching and learning are part of a collective bargaining agreement.”
The members of the CFT affiliated Cincinnati Federation of Office Professionals (CFOP), which represents support staff within CPS, also voted to ratify their contract with CPS. The Office Professionals and the District have made a commitment to work collaboratively with regularly scheduled problem solving meetings. They have also improved their career paths by revamping the classification examination process to enhance promotional opportunities.
The agreement, which was reached earlier this month by negotiators for the CFT and the Cincinnati Board of Education, will take effect July 1, 2014 and will run through June 30, 2017. Teachers and support staff have worked since early 2014 under the terms of the contract that expired at the end of 2013.
Some of the teachers’ contract’s key provisions include:
Schools will be organized around teams. This will establish a better alignment of curriculum and assessments, and a more consistent overall approach to instruction.
The agreement renews the commitment to labor-management collaboration by strengthening the structures that have provided the framework for reform for many years. At the individual school level, there will be more autonomy and joint decision-making between teachers and principals aimed at creating better learning environments.
The district and CFT will work together to co-design and implement the Cincinnati Teacher Evaluation System (CTES). Teacher performance will be measured by several factors including professional standards, the application of best practices, and the use of multiple measures of student achievement.
A commitment to provide support and professional development opportunities to new hires and to monitor the evaluation system for equity, reliability and fairness.
An increased focus to meet the needs of students with disabilities.
Sellers noted that the talks leading to the new contract stretched over the past six months and focused onimproving services for students.
The contracts were ratified with record numbers: CFT passed with 95% of the votes and CFOP was passed with 97% of the votes. A formal signing of the new contracts will be scheduled during the next two weeks.
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