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CHICAGO — After nearly two weeks, more than 300,000 Chicago Public School students headed back to school Friday after a tentative agreement that ended the walkout and is expected to shape education in the nation’s third-largest city for the next five years.
CPS and CTU reached a tentative contract agreement Thursday after a two-hour meeting at City Hall. CPS says the agreements laid out in the Chicago Teachers Union contract could cost $1.5 billion.
“We’re happy that we able to come to an agreement with our partners at CTU and make sure that our kids have a return to normalcy and to get back to what’s important,” CPS CEO Janice Jackson said.
Teachers said they were pleased and relieved to be going back to work after their union and the city reached an agreement to settle an 11-day strike. They were satisfied with mayor’s decision to allow five days to make up for time lost to the strike.
These are some of the highlights of the five-year deal:
- $380 million in teachers and support staff compensation – that includes the across-the-board raises for teachers and support staff and a reduction in health insurance co-pays.
- $70 million goes toward a full-time nurse and social worker for every school, more special education cases managers and positions to support English learners.
- $50 million is dedicated to address class size, community and sanctuary schools.