Remember when reformers were going to make Newark a model district transformed by charter schools and Teach for America? Mark Zuckerberg gave $100 million. Charter leaders arrived. Chris Cerf and Cami Anderson took charge. Senator Corey Booker advocated charters, even vouchers. The reformers gave up.
Newark Teachers Union Members Ratify New Five-Year Contract
NEWARK, N.J.—Newark Teachers Union members ratified a new five-year contract tonight that gives them a voice on classroom and district policies as well as a significant pay raise for each year of the five-year contract.
“NTU members voted to approve the transformational contract that makes them a true partner with the Board of Education on classroom and district policies. The negotiations and the contract itself are an example of labor-management collaboration at its best,” said NTU President John Abeigon.
The contract provides all NTU members with a significant raise over the course of the five-year contract, depending on the person’s step level, longevity and degrees they have earned. The new starting salary will be $65,000 and in the fifth year of the contract, it will be $74,000. In addition, the contract includes salary increases for non-instructional staff, substitutes and hourly-pay employees.
Teachers will be able to select or even design curriculum, provide professional development that matches the standards-based curriculum, and receive support if their evaluations show they are underperforming.
# # #
Diane Ravitch's blog 
great news. Teachers will be around much longer than fleeting billionaires.
Take that, Chris Christie and Corey Booker.
Union strong! Hrrr!
isn’t this the way it’s SUPPOSED to be done? Bravo to the teachers!
Teachers union voices count. My school board too is listening. This is from my union, UTLA, recently, to its members:
In September, the district reported a decline in charter school companies submitting Proposition 39 requests to co-locate on neighborhood school campuses. In the 2015-16 school year, 101 requests were submitted. Only 51 were submitted for the 2023-24 school year, and for the 2024-25 school year, zero requests for new co-locations were submitted.