Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox.
Denver teachers will not get a 5.2% cost-of-living raise after the Denver school board voted Tuesday to accept an arbitrator’s decision in a pay dispute between Denver Public Schools and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association.
The dispute centered on a provision in the teachers union contract that said if Colorado lawmakers boosted funding to DPS by reducing the budget stabilization factor, Denver teachers could get bigger cost-of-living raises. Those raises would have been 5.2% this year, the same cost-of-living raise given to the superintendent and other district administrators.
Although state lawmakers got rid of the budget stabilization factor altogether, ensuring the state will no longer withhold money from K-12 schools, DPS said it didn’t have enough money to cover a 5.2% cost-of-living raise for teachers on top of the step-and-lane raises that most receive each year for their experience and education. Instead, the district gave teachers a 2.06% cost-of-living raise that, coupled with step-and-lane increases, equaled 5.2% total.
The teachers union disagreed with that decision, and the case ended up before an arbitrator. The arbitrator’s decision had not been made public as of Tuesday night, but both the district and the union confirmed that the arbitrator sided with DPS last month.
The Denver school board upheld the arbitrator’s decision in a 4-3 vote after meeting with the school district’s attorney in a closed-door executive session Tuesday.
Scott Esserman was one of four board members who voted in favor of the arbitrator’s decision. A former teacher, he said that he supports educators but that voters elected him to ensure the district is financially viable — a responsibility he said is even more important amid uncertainty about potential federal education funding cuts.
“I believe it is first and foremost our responsibility to ensure the district continues to operate in a fiscally responsible manner,” Esserman said.
Board Vice President Marlene De La Rosa and board members Kimberlee Sia and John Youngquist joined Esserman in voting to accept the arbitrator’s decision.
Board President Carrie Olson and board members Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán and Michelle Quattlebaum voted against the arbitrator’s decision. If the board had rejected the decision, it would have been up to board members to decide how much more to pay teachers.
“I know the Latino families in my district, they’re appalled — they’re appalled that teachers were shafted,” Gaytán said. She said that when teachers are disrespected, they leave the profession.
Educators, parents, and a student pleaded with the board before the vote Tuesday to reject the arbitrator’s decision and give teachers a 5.2% cost-of-living raise.
They described educators who work two jobs, live in rented basement apartments with no hope of owning a home, and struggle to afford baby formula. They pointed out that Superintendent Alex Marrero got a 5.2% cost-of-living raise and a $17,000 bonus this school year.
“DPS has ensured the rich get richer and the poor get poorer,” said Chris Christoff, a kindergarten and first grade teacher at Centennial elementary school. “The poor in this case are the people working directly in our schools and with our students.”
Per the union contract, teachers will receive a onetime $1,000 payment that the arbitrator ordered DPS to pay within 90 days of the decision. District officials said the bonus will cost $6.6 million this year. Giving teachers a 5.2% cost-of-living raise would have cost $18 million this year and “every single year moving forward,” DPS attorney Aaron Thompson said, because it would have added to teachers’ base salaries.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
