Financial terms

Annual raises of 3%, 3%, 3%, 3.25% and 3.5% percent.  

The proposal would also institute an annual bonus for all UFT members, which reaches $1,000  by 2026 and will be paid every year as long as the employee works for the city's Department of Education.  

With the annual bonuses, the compounded value over the length of the agreement ranges from 17.58% to 20.42%

The new top salary for the most experienced teachers would be $151,271 including the bonus, by the end of the proposed contract.  The proposed contract also cuts in half — from 15 to eight years — the length of time it takes most teachers to reach a salary of $100,000.

The starting salary for new teachers would be $72,349, including the bonus, by the end of the proposed agreement, up from $61,070.  The top salary for paraprofessionals would be, $56,761 including the bonus.

Under the proposal, all UFT members would also receive a one-time ratification bonus of $3,000, plus their retro pay, which ranges from $853 to just over $4,000 depending on the job title and seniority. 

Coverage

The proposed contract, which must be approved by the UFT membership, covers approximately 115,000 full-time employees of the city Department of Education and over 5,000 part-time employees.  It would be retroactive to September 14, 2022, when the previous contract expired, and would extend to November 28, 2027.

Teacher autonomy

The tentative agreement provides teachers with greater flexibility over their administrative and other non-teaching duties.

Virtual learning

The contract also includes a major expansion of virtual learning. In addition to broadening the current centrally-run pilot program, high schools and 6-12 schools would be able to offer school-level virtual programs after school and on weekends to students who volunteer to take part. Teacher participation would also be voluntary. The expansion would begin next school year with 25% of high schools eligible to be elected for the program, growing to 100 percent of high schools in the 2027-28 school year.

In addition, paralleling the city's settlement with DC-37, some UFT members who do not work directly in schools would be eligible to work remotely up to two days a week.

The ratification process

It is now up to the union’s 500-member Negotiating Committee, the Executive Board and Delegate Assembly to decide whether to send the tentative agreement to the full UFT members for a ratification vote.

While generally referred to as one contract, in fact there are a dozen different contracts covering different titles, from classroom teachers and paraprofessionals to nurses and guidance counselors.   The contracts differ in language and details of working conditions, but generally follow the same financial pattern.

Once approved, the contracts are sent to each school with a list of eligible voters (and to the homes of workers who have no permanent school assignment) in the form of a two-envelope secret ballot.

Voters mark their ballot yes or no, and seal it into the first envelope, which does not include any identifying information.  The first envelope is then sealed into a second envelope with the voter’s name, ID number, and other data.  These ballots are collected by the school’s UFT chapter leader, checked off against a master list of eligible voters, and then forwarded by prepaid Express Mail to the American Arbitration Association (AAA).  (Voters from home send their ballots directly to the AAA). Completed ballots are expected to be returned to AAA by the end of the school year.

Since 1991, DOE contracts have been approved by the UFT membership at rates ranging from 63 percent to 94 percent.