News Release
April 15, 2005
Denver Public Schools To Community: Despite Financial Constraints, District Committed To Highly-Qualified Workforce, Fair Settlement To Teacher Negotiations
At a news conference today outside Montclair Elementary School, members of the Denver Board of Education and Superintendent Jerry Wartgow emphasized to the community a commitment to maintaining and building a highly-qualified workforce and fairly resolving teacher negotiations through civilized discussion.
Despite an $11.6 million budget gap, the district is offering teachers a 4.7 percent increase - a raise - in total compensation. Currently, Denver teachers rank second among all 14 metro Denver districts when calculating total compensation.
"This proposed settlement continues to make teachers the priority within the district by providing teachers a salary increase greater than all other employees in the district for the second year in a row," said Board President Les Woodward.
Part of the budget savings includes a 6.7 percent cut from central administration budgets to give teachers a raise.
"We are reducing work years for other employees - and cutting their pay proportionately - to give teachers a raise," said Woodward. "This follows a similar pattern last year, when 13.3 percent of central administration was reduced but teachers were provided with an increase in pay.
"Secretaries, bus drivers, custodians and central administrators have forgone salary increases, seen reductions in their work days and have had their ranks reduced to keep budget cuts away from the classrooms - away from students and teachers," he said.
The district announcement today was in response to a union campaign including radio ads, requests of teachers to leaflet Denver neighborhoods and flyers encouraging the community to call Board members' homes as the district and teachers' association resume contract talks tomorrow.
"Radio commercials, plans to picket the personal residences of Board members tomorrow - just as mediation begins - and other tactics are entirely unproductive," said Woodward.
The Board of Education and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association are in the process of negotiating a new contract and have agreed to enter the next phase of negotiations - mediation (which begins Saturday and also is scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week).
"We fully expect civilized discussion to take place - and we're committed to it," said Woodward.
The Board of Education has said that if the school finance act passes in the Colorado legislature this year as expected, the additional funding will go to teachers.
"Those dollars could be very significant," said Woodward. "Teachers are vastly underpaid and deserve respect, appreciation and all of our support for recent accomplishments, including Denver Public Schools being recognized twice by the state as most improved school district in Colorado...The Board of Education believes that maintaining and building a highly-qualified workforce is one of its top priorities."
"This Board of Education has a strong track record of supporting teachers, of working with teachers and of respecting the hard work that's being demonstrated by thousands of individual classroom teachers who are helping students every day," said Superintendent Jerry Wartgow. "This is not just about administration and teachers. This is about the students."
Superintendent Wartgow repeated today what he has said throughout his four-year tenure in Denver Public Schools. "If the world were perfect, teachers would be making what rock stars and football players are making."
The district and teachers' association have worked jointly to develop an innovative and creative new teacher compensation system that will provide a dramatic infusion of money - $25 million annually - and a new era of professional accountability.
ProComp - the Professional Compensation System for Teachers - will generate funds to reward teachers with bonuses and salary increases for improved student performance. The new compensation system also will encourage talented teachers to work in schools and assignments with the greatest needs and it will also reward them for improving their skills.
"We are committed to a fair resolution of this contract," said Woodward. "We are committed to building a high-quality workforce. We are committed to a civilized discussion of our differences. And, best of all, we have a common vision of a very bright future - and that's ProComp."
The current contract between Denver Public Schools and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association expires on August 31, 2005.
For more information, contact the DPS Communications Office at 720-423-3414.