Here’s Jeffco’s first draft of a new teacher contract

In an effort to accelerate negotiations with its teachers union, Jeffco Public Schools has developed a working-draft of a contract and sent it to the Jefferson County Education Association.

The two sides will discuss the 25-page document Monday afternoon.

“It is not intended to be a formal district proposal or a final product — there are a number of provisions that still need to be bargained, and we anticipate that JCEA will be bringing additional provisions to the table,” wrote Jim Branum, the district’s lawyer and lead negotiator, in an email to reporters. “The intent is to give everyone a more focused goal to work toward.”

Contract negotiations between the Jefferson County school district and its union have become strained. Complicating matters is that the two parties must negotiate not only a new contract for subsequent school years, but they must also work out how to pay new hires for the next school year after a judge put the district’s plans on hold.

JCEA had little response Friday morning to the district’s overture.

“We look forward to returning to the negotiations table on Monday,” said JCEA President John Ford.

At first glance, the contact developed by the district is influenced by its goal to give schools more flexibility about how it uses its resources. For example, in Article 8, class size will be determined at the school level. That’s a departure from the current contract, which gives ranges for class sizes depending on the level.

What’s in? What’s out? Help us compare and contrast the district’s proposed contract language with the existing contract. Leave your observations below or email them to ngarcia@chalkbeat.org. We’ll post a story later today with analysis. 

Jeffco’s proposed teacher contract