When new BTU leadership was elected on May 15th, we heard members’ excitement and concerns regarding on-going negotiations. Not wanting to weaken our Union nor hastily disband the work that had already been done, new leadership united with the negotiations team that had already been hard at work. This contract was achieved through collaboration between new and veteran BTU Executive Boards. We brought teachers’ voices to the table, working together to secure the interests of the membership.
Today, we are proud to announce a tentative agreement for a two-year Teacher contract that will bring the largest across the board raises to Baltimore’s teachers since the pathway and interval system was introduced. Salary scales will be increased by 3.8% over the term of the agreement. The increase in your salaries will be considerably higher due to interval and/or pathway movement.
The PSRP Chapter also reached agreement with BCPSS on its wage reopener. Upon approval, PSRPs will receive a 2% raise or a $700 increase to their base pay, whichever is greater. All longevity payments shall be increased by 2% as well. These increases will be retroactively applied to July 1, 2019. No other element of the PSRP contract was negotiated at this time.
We will hold ratification votes for both chapters on Thursday, September 26th, from 6:00am to 8:00pm at BTU Headquarters plus three school sites from 3:30pm to 7:00pm that will be shared once they are secured. Additionally, early voting will be offered at the BTU on September 23rd through September 25th, from 6:00am to 8:00am and 3:00pm to 5:00pm. To vote you must bring photo identification and be a member of the Baltimore Teachers Union.
For members of the Teacher Chapter, after ratification you will receive a 2% raise across all pathways and intervals retroactively applied to July 1, 2019, thereby creating new salary scales found at the end of this document. Teachers will receive an additional 1.8% raise on July 1, 2020 for the 2020-2021 school year.
We were also able to agree to long overdue compensation for Related Service Providers who are at the top of the pay scale within their career pathway.
The Teacher agreement also contains a $12.60 per month increase to our prescription premiums, so, commencing January 1, 2020, the monthly premium for prescriptions will be $16.80 per month (over 10 months). The net increase of $126.00 in prescription premiums is more than offset by the thousands of dollars of increases in pay that we negotiated. All other health care premiums and co-pays remain unchanged.
Given the date between this announcement and the ratification vote, BTU members have a unique amount of time to ask questions to understand our tentative agreements. Please read the attached documents to learn about the changes in the contract and see the new pay scales. Prior to ratification, BTU leadership will hold numerous in-person information sessions to ensure that members understand the tentative agreement and have their questions addressed.
Information sessions will be held at the following times at the BTU:
Thursday, September 12th: 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Friday, September 13th: 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Saturday, September 14th: 10:00am – 11:00am and 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Sunday, September 15th: 2:30pm – 3:30pm
We are also working to secure school-based, in-person presentations for the week of September 16th. Those locations, as well as additional voting sites, will be shared as soon as they are confirmed.
Click the following links below to read more about
the Teacher and PSRP Tenativative Agreements
Teacher Contract 2019-2021 Changes Only