The Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates has endorsed a tentative contract agreement reached with the city's school district. According to the union, the delegates approved the four-year deal by a 2-1 ratio. The contract proposal now will go before the union's approximately 28,000 members on Oct. 27 for final approval.
The four-year proposal averted a strike that would have affected about 390,000 students. It includes cost-of-living increases in both the third and fourth years. And It doesn't require current teachers to pay more toward their pensions - a change Chicago Public Schools was seeking, and the union rejected.
Future CPS hires would pick up that additional pension cost. The tentative agreement also addresses class sizes for younger grades by assigning an assistant to any class with more than 32 students.
