Boston Teachers Reach Tentative Contract Agreement With District

BOSTON — The Boston Teachers Union reached a tentative agreement on a new contract after 11 months of negotiations with Boston Public Schools on Thursday.

The union has scheduled a member vote to approve the contract before the start of the new school semester. If approved by the school committee this fall, the 3-year deal would include additional investments to support changes needed in the approach to special education and allows funding for new positions that will provide additional support for students who are learning English and/or have IEPs.

Boston teachers have worked without a contract since the previous agreement expired 11 months ago. Since then, teachers and the school committee have been working with city officials to create an improvement plan for all schools in the BPS system.

The new pact will also provide parental leave while extending a pilot program with the city to help find housing for unhoused Boston Public Schools families, Boston's Mayor Michelle Wu said Thursday at the national American Federation of Teachers convention at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

"For far too long in Boston, students with disabilities and their families have faced a system that neither recognizes nor delivers what every child deserves," Wu said. "I'm proud of an agreement that supports our educators and takes concrete steps towards building a special education and inclusion model that will help us make Boston a city for everyone."

Though the deal still needs to be approved by union members and the school committee in the fall, the union says the deal will help drive inclusive education forward - providing better education options for students who need the services most.

No exact figure was mentioned when it came to the money involved within the contract.

In May, Boston Public Schools received a scathing, almost 200-page report from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education calling the district in "systemic disarray."

Read more: Harsh Report Sparks Board Meeting On Fate Of Boston Public Schools

The report says the district failed to operate on an "acceptable minimum standard" in several areas including helping students who are learning how to speak English, carrying out the basic functions for students with special learning disabilities, or even having consistent bus routes and drivers.

This report sparked a state education board meeting to determine whether or not BPS should be put into receivership - which would allow for more control over the district. And after deliberation, the Department of Education and Secondary Education sought out an intervention for the schools rather than a receivership.

On June 30, Boston School Committee members voted 4-3 in favor of Mary Skipper, Somerville Public Schools' Superintendent over Dr. Tommy Welch, a regional superintendent within BPS, to take over as superintendent for Dr. Brenda Cassellius.