Philly teachers may have a one-year contract — and a big raise — in a surprise, early settlement

In an unexpected move, the Philadelphia School District and its largest union have tentatively agreed to a one-year contract extension with a healthy wage increase for the system’s 13,000 teachers, counselors, nurses, secretaries, and other school workers.

If approved by members, the deal — which comes just a few weeks after negotiations opened, and months before the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers’ contract expires Aug. 31 — would give all PFT members a 5% raise and $1,200 bonus on Sept. 1. New terms will be negotiated next year.

It is, PFT president Jerry Jordan said in an interview, a deal that acknowledges the current, nationwide teacher shortage and particularly high levels of attrition in Philadelphia.

“It’s keeping people, valuing the people we have, and hopefully attracting more people,” Jordan said. “The one goal that both parties had in mind was the recruitment and retention of not only teachers, but all kinds of educators. We have a shortage of paraprofessionals and nurses and school counselors and on and on.”

Resignations and retirements typically spike in a contract year, Jordan said. No one wanted that.

“It was really important for people to learn that there would be stability in the district this year,” Jordan said.

The news was announced to PFT members in an email from Jordan sent early Wednesday morning, and was likely to elicit surprise across the city that had been bracing for a long summer of contract negotiations.

But Jordan, who is retiring as PFT president June 30 after 17 years, has sat at the negotiating table several times and said he wasn’t shocked by the district offering a contract extension so early in negotiations.

With a mayoral transition, a school board transition, and a clear desire on the district’s part to attract and keep teachers, offering a one-year deal made sense, Jordan said.

Teachers, Jordan said, “have made abundantly clear that they need to earn more money,” and 5% is a significant pay increase. The tentative deal also includes the continuation of steps (salary increases for years of experience) and lanes (crediting additional educational degrees).

As of this school year, starting teachers are paid $51,568 annually. “Senior career teachers,” the most-experienced educators, make $102,376. With 5% raises, beginning teachers would jump to $54,146 and senior career to $107,495. Brand-new paraprofessionals now make $23,474, and their salaries would rise to $24,648.

“This is absolutely a good deal, there’s no question about it,” Jordan said.

All other terms of the contract remain the same, Jordan said, including an extension of $2,500 bonuses for teachers who agree to work in a group of hard-to-staff schools.

Members are scheduled to vote on the contract after a March 6 PFT meeting.

As part of the deal, the PFT will agree to meet regularly with Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. and his team to review progress toward Watlington’s five-year strategic plan.

Watlington, in a statement, said he was “excited” about the deal.

“In the School District of Philadelphia, schools are the primary unit of change, and highly qualified, well-supported, stable teachers over time, is the number one lever for accelerating academic achievement,” the superintendent said.

The deal, Watlington said, “fairly supports the needs of our PFT members” while moving forward with his goal of the district becoming the fastest-improving large urban school system in the country.

“I am thrilled that we can move forward with confidence, upon contract ratification, to continue our focus on improving academic outcomes and help our students imagine and realize any future they desire,” Watlington said.