Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, is clearly preparing to run for mayor of Chicago — filing the necessary forms with the State Board of Elections, circulating petitions to get on the ballot and meeting with community groups.
If elected next spring, one of Lewis’ first big jobs as mayor would be to negotiate a new contract with the CTU.
Does anybody think that’s a job Karen Lewis could do?
The current contract between Chicago and the CTU is a three-year deal that expires at the end of June 2015. The next contract will be hugely important to both the city and the teachers. Chicago’s is the third largest school district in the country. Roughly 350,000 children attend Chicago’s traditional public schools. About 32,000 teachers, retirees and other paraprofessionals are members of the CTU.
Three years ago, the average compensation of Chicago teachers, then $76,000, put them among the highest-paid teachers in the country. The current contract increased that compensation by 7 percent over the three-year term. Moreover, the step and lane system was preserved, so teachers earn more as their seniority increases.
The next round of contract negotiations, in 2015, will include not only salaries, but also details of the step and lane system, benefits, the school calendar (days, holidays and minutes of teaching per day), teacher evaluations, student testing and other potentially explosive topics.
Issues between Chicago and the CTU extend beyond renegotiating the contract. Chicago’s fiscal future depends on its ability to reform its various pension systems going forward. Other legislative controversies arise in Springfield from time to time to create additional tensions.
Negotiating the new agreement with the CTU will necessarily involve arm-wrestling over many dozens of important provisions. At the core of all these issues are questions critical to Chicago’s future: How to improve student learning; and how to control costs — and limit the tax burden on Chicago’s citizens.
Could the head of the teachers union — not just Lewis but any CTU head — move to the other side of the bargaining table and vigorously represent the interests of all the people of Chicago — school families, citizens and taxpayers — in these negotiations?
