DETROIT (WWJ) -- Detroit Public School teachers are set to receive pay raises and bonuses as members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers approved a new two-year contract Wednesday, prior to the start of the new school year.
DFT President Terrance Martin and Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti reached an agreement on the new contract on Aug. 26 and the DPSCD school board is expected to approve the deal later this month.
Highlights of the new contract include $2,000 holiday bonuses for all DFT employees and $3,000 longevity bonuses for teachers who have served the DPSCD for more than 20 years. All bonuses will be retirement-eligible.
Veteran top step teachers will receive a 4% salary increase each year, while teachers and ancillary staff below the top step will receive a step each year. School officials say since 2017, veteran average teacher salaries have increased by about $12,500 a year and top step pay will now exceed $81,000.
Non-top step teachers, meanwhile, have seen average increases of about $7,800 since 2017 and beginning teachers will now earn about $54,000, according to DPSCD.
Vitti says the district has hired an additional 100 teachers to help reduce class sizes for the new school year and replace those teachers who will retire soon.
The superintendent said in a written statement Wednesday the district and DFT have reached four contract agreements in four years (for the span of six years), which he says means that "we are delivering on our commitment to continually celebrate and enhance teachers in our district."
"Each contract agreement narrows the salary gap between our teachers and others throughout the state and area," Vitti said. "It also signals that our reform work is headed in the right direction, especially when it comes to recruiting and retaining teachers."
Vitti noted that in order to "cross the finish line to ensure our teachers are the highest paid," the district will need to increase enrollment, as well as "dramatically alter an inequitable local funding formula that enables wealthier districts to offer higher reoccurring salaries to teachers."
Other notable points of the new contract include $15,000 bonuses for all ESE (formerly special education) teachers and the announcement that retention supplements will be paid for long-term and day-to-day substitution positions.
The district had previously announced the bonus for ESE teachers, but the DFT officially recognized it in the new contract agreement. This bonus is a verbal reoccurring commitment beyond the two-year agreement, the district said.
DPSCD also says the agreement is in addition to the $2,000 in hazard pay that all DFT employees will receive in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, while teachers who must teach blended online courses due to quarantining students will receive an additional $2,000 bonus.
The district will begin the new school year on Sept. 7.
