As Columbus teachers are on picket lines, here are the CCS proposals to the union

Sheridan Hendrix and Michael Lee, The Columbus Dispatch
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With the Columbus Education Association's previous contract now expired and no negotiations scheduled any time soon, teachers and other school staff of the nearly 4,500-member union are striking in the Columbus City Schools district for the first time since 1975.

An overwhelming majority of CEA members – 94% – voted Sunday to reject the district's most recent contract offer. Columbus City Schools Board of Education President Jennifer Adair said the board's latest proposal was its "last, best and final offer" to the union.

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"It is a strong offer. It’s responsive to the concerns that have been raised. The offer is respectful and reflects how important our teachers are to our district," Adair said Thursday after the parties' last scheduled bargaining session.

The CEA teachers union has announced on Sunday, Aug. 21, that they will begin a Columbus City Schools strike. Picketing began Monday morning.
The CEA teachers union has announced on Sunday, Aug. 21, that they will begin a Columbus City Schools strike. Picketing began Monday morning.

What is Columbus City Schools Board of Education's offer to its teachers union?

According to the district, the latest offer proposed by the Columbus City Schools Board of Education includes:

Wage increases for all CEA members

  • Guaranteed raises of 3% annually for three years

  • A $2,000 per CEA member retention and recruitment bonus

  • The teacher salary range for the 2021-22 school year starts at $49,339 and goes up to $107,679, according to Columbus City Schools spokesperson Jacqueline Bryant and the district’s teacher salary schedule.

  • A 3% raise would increase the pay range to $50,819 to $110,909, and an 8% raise would increase the pay range to $53,286 to $116,293.

  • “By the end of this three-year contract, a teacher who last school year was paid the district’s average salary of $74,000 will be earning more than $91,000 – a 23% increase from the start of the contract,” Adair said.

Fixing air conditioning and heating issues

  • The contract offer states that the board of education has contracted and/or already committed funds to install air conditioning in every school except for Mifflin Middle School, which has central air in about 50% of the building and is targeted to be replaced by a new middle school in the district’s proposed facilities master plan.

  • Bryant said that the seven schools that the district was completing HVAC projects in will be ready to go by Wednesday.

  • Six other buildings will have HVAC projects completed mid-to-late September.

The seven schools getting HVAC upgrades that are scheduled to be complete by Wednesday are:

  • Broadleigh Elementary School

  • Colerain Elementary School

  • Como Elementary School

  • Maize Elementary School

  • North Linden Elementary School

  • Westmoor Middle School

  • Woodward Park at Walden

The six schools where HVAC system upgrades aren't anticipated until September:

  • Fairwood Elementary School (late September)

  • Johnson Park Middle School (mid-September)

  • Yorktown Middle School (mid-September)

  • Valleyview Elementary School (mid-September)

  • West Broad Elementary School (mid-September)

  • Westgate Elementary School (mid-September)

Smaller class sizes in grades K-5

  • Class sizes for kindergarten through 5th grade will begin to be reduced in 2022-23 with no classes of more than 28 students, and class sizes will continue to be cut until the maximum class size is 27.

  • On Aug. 2, the board put out a media release stating that the districtwide average class size was 22 students or fewer, which did not jibe with their latest statement about cutting elementary school class sizes.

Paid leave for new parents

  • For the birth parent and in the case of adoptions and foster placements, the teacher may take 30 days of leave. Much of that paid leave can be taken without using sick leave, the district said.

More specialists, nurses in the district

  • The latest offer includes an agreement to hire 25 additional full-time nurses, behavioral specialists, school psychologists and speech language pathologists in fiscal years 2024 and 2025.

  • The agreement specifies that all 25 new employees will be CEA members.

More time for teachers to plan

  • The offer also includes an agreement to give teachers a day dedicated to planning, with students not in schools, for each of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.

  • Teachers are allowed to work remotely that day, and the planning days are timed to provide one four-day weekend in February of each school year.

Columbus Education Association spokesperson Regina Fuentes said the strike vote was 94 percent positive for a strike. She spoke outside the Columbus Downtown High School. The Columbus City Schools teachers union voted to strike Sunday, August 21, 2022.
Columbus Education Association spokesperson Regina Fuentes said the strike vote was 94 percent positive for a strike. She spoke outside the Columbus Downtown High School. The Columbus City Schools teachers union voted to strike Sunday, August 21, 2022.

What is the Columbus Education Association asking the district for as Ohio teachers continue strike?

CEA spokesperson Regina Fuentes said Friday that the board's offer was "substantially unchanged" from its previous offer at the end of July. The union previously shared that it is asking for:

  • Functioning heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in schools

  • Smaller class sizes

  • Full-time art, music and physical education teachers

  • More planning time for teachers

  • A cap on the number of class periods in the day

  • "Other working conditions that recruit and retain the best educators for out students."

Earlier in negotiations, CEA was asking for an 8% increase at each step of the salary scale for 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25, according to a copy of the unfair labor practice charge the school board filed against the union on Aug. 3 and obtained by The Dispatch.

An 8% raise would increase the pay range to $53,286 to $116,293.

Teachers strike in Columbus, Ohio:Columbus Education Association teachers picket outside city schools as strike begins

CEA President John Coneglio wouldn't confirm to The Dispatch on the picketing lines Monday that an 8% wage increase is still what the union is seeking.

"The district wants to negotiate in public. We want to stick to our agreed upon process," Coneglio said.

"That's not the process, that's not the center of the issue. ... We want the board to come to us and have a serious conversation about wages," he said.

Will Columbus City Schools Board of Education, Columbus teachers union go back to bargaining table?

Coneglio said there's movement to be made on both sides of the bargaining table.

Fuentes declined to give an updated list of the union's proposals to The Dispatch on Friday "because we do not want to negotiate these issues through the media."

What to know:If Columbus teachers strike continues Wednesday, how will students access online classes?

"We want the district to negotiate directly with us, in good faith," Fuentes said.

"We're ready to negotiate any time, any place," Coneglio said.

Editors note: A previous version of this story contained incorrect information on the effect of a 3% wage increase for union members.

shendrix@dispatch.com

@sheridan120

mylee@dispatch.com

@leem386

Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Michael Lee is a K-12 education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Sign up for Extra Credit, their education newsletter, here.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus teachers strike ongoing as union receives contract offer