Columbus City Schools has reached a conceptual agreement with Columbus Education Association, but both sides were not disclosing the terms on Thursday and they will likely remain unknown publicly until after union members meet to vote.
The tentative deal was reached after more than 12 hours of negotiating with a federal mediator that began at 1 p.m. on Wednesday and wrapped up shortly before 3 a.m.
Columbus teachers strike:Columbus City Schools and Columbus Education Association reach conceptual agreement
“While the details cannot yet be disclosed, the contract recognizes the board’s commitment to improving our student outcomes, the essential work of the CEA members, and strengthening our learning environments,” Board President Jennifer Adair said Thursday.
CEA spokesperson Regina Fuentes said she doesn’t know any of the details of the new contract because she hasn’t seen it since she is not a core bargaining member.
“The specific details of the deal will not be released until our members are the first ones to see it,” she said.
The Dispatch filed a request under the Ohio Public Records Act for a copy of the proposed agreement with the school district Thursday morning. After the union votes on the agreement, the Columbus City Schools Board of Education must approve it and The Dispatch request is based on the belief that the public should know what its elected members are voting on beforehand.
On Aug. 18, the Columbus City school board offered its last proposal before an overwhelming majority of the nearly 4,500 CEA members – 94% – voted Sunday to reject the offer.
That offer from last week included:
Wage increases for all Columbus Education Association members
- Guaranteed raises of 3% annually for three years
- A $2,000 per CEA member retention and recruitment bonus
- The teacher salary range for the 2021-22 school year starts at $49,339 and goes up to $107,679, according to Columbus City Schools spokesperson Jacqueline Bryant and the district’s teacher salary schedule.
- A 3% raise would increase the pay range to $50,819 to $110,909, and an 8% raise would increase the pay range to $53,286 to $116,293.
- “By the end of this three-year contract, a teacher who last school year was paid the district’s average salary of $74,000 will be earning more than $91,000 – a 23% increase from the start of the contract,” Adair said.
Columbus City Schools strike:As Columbus teachers are on picket lines, here are the CCS proposals to the union
Fixing air conditioning, heating issues in Columbus City Schools
- The contract offer states that the board of education has contracted and/or already committed funds to install air conditioning in every school except for Mifflin Middle School, which has central air in about 50% of the building and is targeted to be replaced by a new middle school in the district’s proposed facilities master plan.
- Bryant said that the seven schools that the district was completing HVAC projects in will be ready to go by Wednesday.
- Six other buildings will have HVAC projects completed mid-to-late September.
The seven schools getting HVAC upgrades that were scheduled to be complete by the first day of school are:
- Broadleigh Elementary School
- Colerain Elementary School
- Como Elementary School
- Maize Elementary School
- North Linden Elementary School
- Westmoor Middle School
- Woodward Park at Walden
The six schools where HVAC system upgrades aren't anticipated until September:
- Fairwood Elementary School (late September)
- Johnson Park Middle School (mid-September)
- Yorktown Middle School (mid-September)
- Valleyview Elementary School (mid-September)
- West Broad Elementary School (mid-September)
- Westgate Elementary School (mid-September)
Smaller class sizes in grades K-5
- Class sizes for kindergarten through 5th grade will begin to be reduced in 2022-23 with no classes of more than 28 students, and class sizes will continue to be cut until the maximum class size is 27.
- On Aug. 2, the board put out a media release stating that the districtwide average class size was 22 students or fewer, which did not jibe with their latest statement about cutting elementary school class sizes.
Paid leave for new parents
- For the birth parent and in the case of adoptions and foster placements, the teacher may take 30 days of leave. Much of that paid leave can be taken without using sick leave, the district said.
More specialists, nurses in the district
- The latest offer includes an agreement to hire 25 additional full-time nurses, behavioral specialists, school psychologists and speech language pathologists in fiscal years 2024 and 2025.
- The agreement specifies that all 25 new employees will be CEA members.
More time for teachers to plan
- The offer also includes an agreement to give teachers a day dedicated to planning, with students not in schools, for each of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.
- Teachers are allowed to work remotely that day, and the planning days are timed to provide one four-day weekend in February of each school year.
What was the Columbus Education Association seeking in negotiations?
CEA previously shared that it was asking for:
- Functioning heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in schools
- Smaller class sizes
- Full-time art, music and physical education teachers
- More planning time for teachers
- A cap on the number of class periods in the day
- "Other working conditions that recruit and retain the best educators for out students."
“Let the history books reflect that this strike was aboutstudents who deserved a commitment to modern schools with heating and air conditioning, smaller class sizes, and a well-rounded curriculum that includes art, music and P.E.," CEA Spokesperson Regina Fuentes said Thursday morning.
Early in negotiations, CEA was asking for an 8% increase at each step of the salary scale for 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25, according to a copy of the unfair labor practice charge the school board filed against the union on Aug. 3 and obtained by The Dispatch.
An 8% raise would make the pay range $53,286 to $116,293. The district
CEA President John Coneglio wouldn't confirm to The Dispatch on the picketing lines Monday that an 8% wage increase was the final figure the union was seeking.
"The district wants to negotiate in public," Coneglio said. We want to stick to our agreed upon process. That's not the process, that's not the center of the issue. ... We want the board to come to us and have a serious conversation about wages."
Editors note: A previous version of this story contained incorrect information on the effect of a 3% wage increase for union members.
mhenry@dispatch.com
@megankhenry
