Denver’s public school teachers went on strike Monday, following the lead of teachers across the country who have refused to go to work until they get a raise. The walkout comes after more than 15 months of tense negotiations between the school district and the teachers union over the compensation system, which relies heavily on bonuses that fluctuate wildly from year to year. Teachers say their salaries are too low for Denver’s high cost of living and aren’t keeping up with pay in neighboring districts. They also point out that the district has way more administrators than other districts of similar size, which eats into the school budget. Denver officials said they are listening, and that they’re willing to give teachers a raise but want to keep offering bonuses to teachers who work in high-poverty communities. “We’re disappointed that the [Denver Classroom Teachers Association] walked away from the table. We presented an updated proposal that responds to what we have heard from teachers, aligns to our values of equity and retention, honors the ProComp ballot language and significantly increases the base pay for teachers,” the district stated on Monday, after negotiations fell apart over the weekend. City and state officials tried hard to keep teachers from going on strike. Colorado lawmakers threatened them with jail time. School administrators asked the governor to stop them. Neither effort worked, though, and more than 2,000 teachers are now picketing on the streets. “Now is our time,” Sonia Burns, a Denver high school social studies teacher, told me. “There is a movement around the country and we’ve gotten so much support from the community.” Unlike other districts where teachers went on strike, Denver officials have decided to keep the schools open during the stoppage, counting on administrators and substitute teachers to keep students on schedule. However, preschool classes were canceled Monday because they couldn’t find enough licensed teachers to fill in. Burns, who has been teaching in Denver for eight years, said teachers are nervous but determined. The school district has offered educators a 10 percent raise, but the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, a labor union representing about 5,700 educators, wants the district to overhaul the entire compensation system. Arbitrary bonuses and low pay Teachers are most upset about Denver’s incentive pay system, which started more than a decade ago. The district pays bonuses based on teacher performance, and to encourage teachers to work in high-poverty schools. But the union says the bonuses vary too much from year to year, creating financial instability for educators and their families. They also say it’s unclear how the district measures good performance and determines bonuses. Instead, teachers want the district to lower bonuses and increase their base salaries, and to give them salaries based on education and training, like most school districts do. Colorado teachers are among the lowest-paid in the country, earning an average of $46,155 in 2016 — ranking Colorado 46th in average teacher pay, according to the National Education Association. The state also spends about $2,500 less per student each year than the national average. The Denver Classroom Teachers Association voted to authorize a strike in January with support from 93 percent of its members. At the time, the two sides were about $8 million apart in reaching an agreement. After authorizing a strike, the school district fought back. They asked Gov. Jared Polis to intervene, a legal move that delayed the strike as the state government weighed its options. But last week, the governor declined to intervene in the dispute, which could have further delayed a strike by up to 180 days. That wasn’t the first attempt to keep teachers from going on strike, though. Far from it. Republican lawmakers tried to make striking illegal In April, two Republican state legislators tried to shut down a potential teachers strike in Colorado with the threat of jail time. The bill, introduced in the state Senate, prohibited districts from supporting a teachers strike and required schools to dock a teacher’s pay for each day they participate in a walkout. The teachers could also have faced up to six months in jail and a $500 daily fine if they violated a court order to stop striking. The bill was a reaction to the teacher strikes sweeping red and purple states, including Oklahoma, West Virginia, Arizona, and Kentucky. Thousands of teachers in Colorado had joined the grassroots movement, holding rallies at the state capitol to demand a pay raise and more funding. The bill failed. And now the teachers are on strike in Denver — for the first time in 25 years.<doc-sep>The Latest on the Denver teacher strike (all times local): 3:30 p.m. The head of the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers union, is telling striking Denver teachers they will prevail in their fight for better pay. Lily Eskelsen Garcia told several thousand rallying teachers and supporters at the state Capitol that theirs is the latest in a struggle that's included teacher actions in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona and, most recently, Los Angeles. Denver teachers went on strike Monday to demand a better base pay system with less emphasis on frequently confusing bonuses. The superintendent of Denver schools says talks over a pay dispute that led to a teacher strike will resume Tuesday. ___ 12:15 p.m. The superintendent of Denver schools says talks over a pay dispute that led to a teacher strike will resume Tuesday. Susana Cordova said she saw a range of effects at schools when teachers went on strike Monday. Schools remained open Monday and district officials have said administrators and substitute teachers will staff them. Cordova said students at schools she visited were working in classrooms, overseen by adults. She acknowledged reports of students dancing and chanting in the hallways of one high school before walking out. She said district officials reported that the school was calm by early afternoon. Cordova says the district will review that plan for individual schools each day. She says she is hopeful the district and teachers union can come to an agreement quickly. __ 11:05 a.m. Denver teachers are getting public support as they begin a strike for higher pay that is less reliant on bonuses. After picketing outside schools Monday, hundreds of teachers joined members of other unions and at least some students for a march that took them down busy streets and past City Hall. Police held traffic as the group crossed intersections. Many drivers honked in support and used their cellphones to capture the moment. Onlookers also watched from nearby offices or the sidewalk. According to the district, more than 2,100 of about 4,000 teachers had called in absent Monday. Schools remained open and district officials have said administrators and substitute teachers will staff them. Classes for 5,000 preschool children have been canceled. __ 10:52 a.m. Denver school officials say more than 2,100 teachers have called in absent as educators went on strike. According to district data, that's about half of the teachers employed. Teachers began picketing Monday before the start of the school day after failing to reach a deal with administrators on pay. Students have joined in the protests outside several schools. The Denver walkout joins a wave of teacher activism in the U.S. since last spring, when teachers walked off the job in West Virginia. Last month, Los Angeles teachers walked out for six days. Denver schools remained open Monday and district officials have said administrators and substitute teachers will staff them. Classes for 5,000 preschool children were canceled. __ 10:10 a.m. A leading Colorado lawmaker says Denver's teachers strike underscores the need to boost funding of public schools across the state. House Majority Leader Alec Garnett said Monday lawmakers must find a way to fix conflicting laws that restrict state K-12 spending by hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The Democrat also says school districts must do a better job at ensuring tax dollars go to the classroom and not administrative overhead. Denver teachers went on strike Monday after failing to reach a deal with administrators on pay. Garnett says he met with both sides over the weekend and that they were "super-close" to a deal. __ 7:45 a.m. Denver teachers have gone on strike after failing to reach a deal with administrators on pay. Teachers started the strike Monday. The school district says schools will remain open during the strike and will be staffed by administrators and substitute teachers. However, the district has canceled classes for 5,000 pre-school children because it doesn't have the staff to take care of them. It's the latest action in a wave of teacher activism since last spring, when teachers walked off the job in West Virginia. ___ 7 a.m. Denver teachers say they will strike Monday after failing to win an agreement on pay. Both sides met Saturday in a final attempt to reach a new contract after over a year of negotiations. They are expected to sit down at the bargaining table again Tuesday. Teachers plan to picket schools around the city starting Monday. The district says schools will remain open during the strike and will be staffed by administrators and substitute teachers. However, the district has canceled classes for 5,000 preschool children because it doesn't have the staff to take care of them. The teachers' union says 93 percent of participating members backed a strike in a vote last month. ___ 10:20 p.m. Denver teachers are planning to strike Monday for the first time in 25 years after failed negotiations with the school district over base pay. The teachers union and Denver Public Schools met Saturday in an attempt to reach a new contract after more than a year of negotiations, but both sides left disappointed. The Denver Classroom Teachers Association released a statement after the meeting saying the district's proposal lacks transparency and "pushes for failed incentives for some over meaningful base salary for all." Meanwhile, schools Superintendent Susana Cordova said she was "extremely disappointed" that the union walked away from the table instead of continuing to work toward an agreement. Teachers plan to picket around the city beginning Monday as the district tries to keep schools open by staffing them with administrators and substitutes. The district has canceled classes for about 5,000 preschoolers because it doesn't have the staff to take care of them.<doc-sep>Leaders of the union representing Denver Public Schools’ educators ended contract negotiations with the district Saturday evening after more than six hours of last-ditch talks, announcing they’ll go through with plans for the city’s first teacher strike in 25 years on Monday. District officials — who have hired 300 new substitute teachers and have an “active roster” of 1,200 subs — have said they intend to keep Denver’s 161 public schools open during a strike, though they will cancel preschool classes for 3- and 4-year-olds. Yet DPS leaders have acknowledged that if they can’t put enough teachers in place, they may have to consider closing some schools. If that happens, district officials say they’ll alert parents the night before. Both sides expressed disappointment Saturday night following the collapse of negotiations, with Denver teachers now set to walk out of their classrooms in the name of better wages for the first time since 1994. Union leaders said they’re not willing to negotiate again until Tuesday. RELATED: What you need to know about Denver’s teachers strike “We will strike Monday for our students and for our profession, and perhaps then DPS will get the message and return to the bargaining table with a serious proposal aimed at solving the teacher turnover crisis in Denver,” Henry Roman, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, said in a statement. For its part, DPS expressed dismay that union leaders walked away from negotiations over a new contract involving the 20-year-old ProComp pay system the district uses to govern teacher compensation. “We presented an updated proposal that responds to what we heard from our teachers, aligns to our values of equity and retention, honors the ProComp ballot language and significantly increases the base pay for all of our educators,” Superintendent Susana Cordova said in a statement. “Despite the union’s refusal to continue negotiating, we remain committed to working with the leadership of the DCTA to end this strike.” “What else do you want from us, Susana?” Saturday’s 11th-hour bargaining session grew more contentious as the afternoon and evening wore on, finally unraveling shortly after 7 p.m. Emotions swirled as union representatives rejected a new DPS proposal that cut central office jobs in an effort to free up more money for teacher pay. District negotiators said the plan moved DPS closer to the union financially — but the union decried it as “deceptive.” “Teachers were stunned when DPS proposed hiking incentives instead of putting that new money into base pay where it could make the entire district more competitive,” Roman said. The night ended with DPS general counsel Michelle Berge wiping tears from her eyes as upset teachers in her district aired their grievances at Berge and Cordova, who remained at the negotiating table after the union shut down talks and walked out. The union’s decision to end negotiations came after DPS quickly rejected its counteroffer to the district’s proposal, which had called for the elimination of 150 positions in the district’s central office in an effort to free up $20 million over the next two years to help fund teacher pay. DPS said its offer on Saturday puts $23 million in new funds into teachers’ base salaries next year, and a total of $55 million over the next three years. The district said its latest proposal would result in a nearly 11 percent increase in teachers’ salaries next year. RELATED: Denver teachers, district discord rooted in complicated ProComp bonus system The union’s counteroffer came with small technical changes that Cordova said did not move the two sides any closer — and, in fact, put them farther apart. Rob Gould, the union’s lead negotiator, grew red in the face as Cordova spoke. “I think we’re at this point where you keep asking teachers to compromise over and over,” Gould said in front of a room full of teachers and district officials. “What else do you want from us, Susana? We give you our lives. What are you willing to give us?” Cordova responded that she wanted time to continue negotiations, prompting Gould to jump to his feet and announce that the district could have more time on Tuesday — and that the union was done talking. As teachers and members of the union’s bargaining team flooded out of the room — leaving district officials seated at the table alone — fifth-grade teacher Chelsea Teutsch approached Cordova and accosted the superintendent with a trembling voice. Upset teachers telling off the district about how they’re making teachers leave the profession. pic.twitter.com/QVJRglnEd5 — Elizabeth Hernandez (@ehernandez) February 10, 2019 “Please listen, Susana,” Teutsch said as she explained that she came into teaching from the business world and doesn’t want to leave the profession she loves, yet she can’t afford to stay. “We didn’t come into this profession to get rich, but we should be able to make a living wage,” Teutsch said afterward. “I told Susana those things because I feel like they’re so removed, and we’re painted as these bad guys who just want money. I love my kids. It was really hard leaving yesterday.” After union members had cleared out, Cordova shared her displeasure in a news conference. “Obviously, I’m incredibly disappointed,” Cordova said. “We are ready, willing and able to continue working. It’s not even 8 p.m. We have all day tomorrow.” Gould said the bargaining team and Denver teachers will not engage in negotiations on Sunday or Monday as they prepare for and carry out their planned strike. But, he said, teachers could be back in their classrooms as early as Wednesday if the district and the union can cut a deal Tuesday. “If they really wanted to make a deal, why didn’t they come back with this proposal on Friday so we could have talked about it for two days instead of spending two days talking about professional development units, that they then completely changed?” Gould said. “It just goes back to their deception tactics.” Cordova said there was no reason to wait until Tuesday to try to broker another deal when one could be settled on beforehand. Later Saturday night, DPS officials announced the district’s bargaining team will be in place Sunday, ready to negotiate, and invited the union to resume talks. “Educational opportunities for all of our kids” Three hours into Saturday’s talks, DPS proposed kicking in an additional $2 million in teacher base pay in the upcoming school year and committed more money toward bumping up incentives for educators working in high-poverty schools from a $2,500 annual bonus to $3,000. By the 2021 school year, the plan would commit $3 million more toward educators’ base pay, according to DPS chief financial officer Mark Ferrandino. DPS’ latest starting salary matches the union’s proposal at $45,800. After digesting that proposal, Roman updated the room full of teachers waiting to hear their fate. “We have significant concerns with their proposal,” Roman said. “We feel they have deliberately constructed the proposal to make it look like they are moving when they are not. We are extremely, extremely disappointed.” The added money in DPS’ plan comes from cuts made to the district’s central administration office, which has been criticized for being bloated. An analysis by the education website Chalkbeat found that, compared with the statewide average, DPS is top-heavy with administration, having one administrator for every 7.5 instructional members, including teachers, librarians, nurses and others. To fund the district’s new proposal, Cordova said the district would make $20 million worth of cuts to their central office made over two years — a reduction of about 150 positions. DPS also would eliminate performance bonuses for central administration staff, Cordova said, eliciting cheers from the audience of teachers listening to the plan. The plan also completely revamped how professional development units — the issue in focus during Friday night and most of Saturday’s bargaining discussion — would work. Negotiations really unraveling now. Cordova said the union’s plan has not moved them any closer and has in fact moved farther apart. Tense conversations back and forth. — Elizabeth Hernandez (@ehernandez) February 10, 2019 Professional development units are a Denver school district program to advance teachers’ education through free college-like courses on many topics.<doc-sep>
Denver’s first teachers strike since 1994 entered its second day Tuesday with much of the activity focused on “super” picketing sites outside North and East high schools. The demonstrations by teachers, assisted by a large student walkout at North High, came as negotiators from Denver Public Schools and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association were returned to the bargaining table for the first time since contract talks collapsed over the weekend. Denver teachers strike photos The Denver Post wants to see your photos of the strike from rallies, organizing sessions and inside schools and classrooms. If you’re willing to let the Post use and publish your photos, submit a photo of the Denver teacher strike here. English teacher Jessica Perkins said she’s back on the picket line at East High for a second day because the kids in Denver deserve the best teachers available, and higher pay attracts those teachers. She said she’s hopeful about today’s negotiations but knows there’s still a lot to resolve. Ada Youngstrom, a freshman at North High, helped organize a student sit-in and walkout at that school. After students walked out around the park across the street, they walked back into class. She estimates about 250 walked out and most returned to school. They decided to go back to class, Youngstrom said, so DPS feels the pressure of having the students in the building during the strike and the need to provide those resources. “If we walked out and left, that would take the pressure off,” she said. The energy at East High School this morning definitely isn’t any calmer than yesterday. I imagine the slightly higher temperature also helps. pic.twitter.com/Ze7ny7MKxY — Saja Hindi (@BySajaHindi) February 12, 2019 Several students from Skinner Middle School joined the picket lines outside North High, having stayed home Tuesday after attending classes on Monday. “It was horrible,” 12-year-old Celie Blair said of her experience at school during the strike. “Everyone thought it was gonna be fun.” She said she and her middle-school classmates were all working in the auditorium on material they already knew and didn’t have desks to sit at. Monday’s opening of the strike saw more than 2,600 teachers walk out of their classrooms in the name of better wages, according to Denver Public Schools. The union disputed that figure, saying more than 3,700 educators walked the picket lines. Tuesday morning, district officials announced DPS schools that student attendance was at 76 percent at the start of the school day on Monday. To make up for those striking teachers, DPS on Monday said it had enlisted approximately 400 substitutes and used 1,400 central-office staff in city classrooms. Teachers and their supporters picketed at schools across Denver, and students reported disorder at some schools and dissatisfaction with the classwork offered by substitutes. “It was chaotic,” said Matt Pence, an 18-year-old senior at East High School. “There wasn’t much control. The substitutes were trying as hard as they could, but there was just too many people.” [RELATED: Why Colorado pot money has no impact on the Denver teachers strike] DPS announced Monday night that all of its schools will be open Tuesday. Negotiators from DPS and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association are scheduled to resume talks at 10 a.m. The two sides have reached a point where they’re both proposing the same starting base salary for teachers, but other areas of contention remain — namely DPS’ desire to pay bonuses to teachers in high-poverty schools. The union last month voted to authorize a strike after its negotiations with DPS failed to secure a new contract governing educator compensation through the district’s 20-year-old ProComp system. At the time, the two sides were about $8 million apart in their respective compensation proposals. Once the union authorized a strike, DPS officials formally asked Gov. Jared Polis to intervene, a move that delayed any strike until the state government weighed its options. The governor ultimately declined to step in — something that could have further delayed a strike by up to 180 days. Once Polis made his decision last week, union officials declared they’d strike on Monday, setting the stage for a final burst of bargaining. Representatives of DPS and the teachers met on Friday night and much of Saturday afternoon, but, in the end, the union walked out, setting the stage for Denver’s first teacher strike in 25 years.