Proposals for the 2007-2008 deal
Negotiations
* One-year contract term
* Recognition of Chicago Teachers Unions as the sole bargaining unit for union members of contract schools
Charters
* Eliminating multiple campus charter schools and requiring charters that already have them to downsize to one over three years
Teachers
* Selection of high school department chairs by teachers, not principals
* Reduced teaching schedule for department chairs
* Increase in the number of preparation periods from three to five for elementary school teachers; from one to five for high school teachers with division classes
* One additional librarian, art and music teacher for every 500 students
* Overall reduction in class size with additional reductions for classes with more than 10 percent special education students
* Board-funded positions for a technology coordinator for every 500 students or 200 computers
Paraprofessionals
* Private rooms for school counselors
* Reduction in counselor-student ration from 600-to-1 to 350-to-1
* Minimum of one counselor at every school
* Half-time counselor aide
* Minimum of two board-funded clerks at every school. Minimum number of clerks higher for larger schools
Program Funding
* A line item in school budgets for library media centers
* Installing a working computer and printer in every classroom for teacher use
* Minimum of $2,000 for supply and equipment budget for every physical education teacher
* Increase in funding for vocational education classes
Salary and Benefits
* Maternity leave
* Increase in the maximum number of hours for which teachers can be paid for overseeing extracurricular activities
* Provision for the Board of Education to pay for health insurance premiums
* Increase in lifetime healthcare benefits and life insurance
* Access to higher steps on salary scale for vocational education teachers
* Extra pay for teachers who temporarily take into their classes students whose teachers are absent
* $1,000 bonus for “educational support personnel” who have become highly qualified under NCLB; bonuses for teachers
* New early retirement benefits
School Operations
* Shaving 15 minutes off school day
* Eliminating 50-minute periods in high schools, leaving schools with 40-, 42- and 45-minute period options with the latter being the default
* New guidelines for handling student discipline
Job Protection
* Provision for layoffs of education support personnel to be based on seniority
* Elimination of article that always probationary teachers to be released from their schools without due process