Philly teachers say yes to a new 1-year contract extension, 5% raise

Philadelphia’s teachers, counselors, nurses, paraprofessionals, and other school workers on Wednesday night endorsed a one-year contract extension that will give them a 5% pay raise.

Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan called the contract “a down payment on the future.”

Nearly 85% of the 2,400 PFT members who voted at a virtual meeting approved of the deal.

The approval comes 178 days before the union’s current contract was set to expire, and extends that pact through Aug. 31, 2025. The Feb. 28 announcement that the PFT and the school district had an early settlement was a surprise to many who had been braced for a summer of contract negotiations with a new school board in a new mayoral administration.

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In addition to the 5% pay increase, effective the first paycheck after Sept. 1, PFT members will receive bonuses of $1,200. It also continues steps — salary increases based on years of experience — and lanes, or credit, for additional education, and extends a program that gives extra pay to teachers who work in certain hard-to-staff schools.

“I am pleased that our members voted decisively in favor of ratifying the one-year extension to our collective bargaining agreement,” Jordan said in a statement after the vote Wednesday night. “Every day, our members pour their hearts into the vital work of educating our young people and helping them thrive. Their work must be recognized with fair compensation.”

He said that he was “thrilled” with the deal, and that most members agreed. According to sources with firsthand knowledge of the members-only meeting, some teachers said it was incumbent on PFT members to take the money on the table while it’s there, and that the extension puts the union in a good spot for talks next year.

Still, there was some pushback.

George Bezanis, a teacher at Central High, opposed the deal, which he said did not keep up with the rate of inflation or raises given to some higher-ups in the district.

Others said that city teacher salaries still lag those in a number of other local districts, despite the city having tougher working conditions, and that a 5% increase is not enough to keep some teachers, paraprofessionals, and others in the city during a nationwide educator shortage that’s particularly acute in Philadelphia.

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The PFT, the district’s largest union, represents about 13,000 school employees. Jordan, its longtime leader, is retiring June 30; Arthur Steinberg, currently the director of the PFT’s Health and Welfare Fund and president of the Pennsylvania American Federation of Teachers chapter, will succeed Jordan.

Before the raise, starting teachers are paid $51,568 annually.

“Senior career teachers,” the most experienced educators, make $102,376. With 5% raises, beginning teachers would make $54,146 and senior career teachers $107,495. Brand-new paraprofessionals now make $23,474, and their salaries would increase to $24,648.

The Philadelphia school board voted unanimously to approve the contract at Thursday’s meeting.