DCTA Counter Proposal: 02/14/2019 5:30AM

TENTATIVE AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
SCHOOL DISTRICT #1
DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS
AND
DENVER CLASSROOM TEACHERS ASSOCIATION
Denver Public Schools (District) and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (the Association) agree
to enter into an amended Professional Compensation Agreement (ProComp Agreement), which will
memorialize the following:
A. Term of the Agreement:
1. This Agreement will be in effect from January 19, 2019 through August 31, 2022. The
Master Agreement will be extended to expire concurrently with the ProComp
Agreement. The terms of this tentative agreement will be integrated into the Master
Agreement.
B. Covered Employees:
1. This Tentative Agreement applies to Teachers and Specialized Service Providers
(referred to as “Educators”) within the DCTA Bargaining Unit.
2. This Tentative Agreement covers Educators who are on either the Traditional Salary
Schedule or who are currently enrolled in ProComp. Any incentives for teachers/SSPs
on the traditional salary schedule under Article 27 of the Master Agreement will no
longer be in effect and will be replaced by the terms of this Agreement. It will also apply
to any newly hired bargaining unit members.
C. Salary Setting for Current and New Employees:
1. An Educator’s salary will be set based on years of service and where they fall on the
lanes, consistent with the attached Salary Schedule.
2. For new employees, a maximum of ten years of experience will be credited.
3. SSPs that require a Masters of less than 54 credits will be placed in the MA Lane. An SSP
whose position requires a Masters that takes 54 or more credits will be placed in
MA+18.
D. Base Building Incentives:
1. Professional Evaluation step: Effective August 1 of each year, an Educator is eligible to
advance one step, consistent with the Salary Schedule, if they receive an approaching or
better rating on their end-of-year evaluation rating in the previous year.

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 DCTA Counter Proposal: 02/14/2019 5:30AM

Horizontal Movement across the Salary Schedule:
• Lane placement is determined by educational level plus an additional lane for each of the
following: longevity, Advanced License/National Board.
Ways to earn credits to move on the salary schedule:
•

Longevity -- Ten years of service in DPS classrooms (in DCTA bargaining unit) within the last
fifteen years (“Longevity”) equals one lane change with a cap at Lane MA+54. If a bargaining
unit employee is in Masters + 54 or Doctorate and not able to use the Longevity, Educators will
receive a base increase of $2,000. Longevity movement or a one-time base increase can only be
earned once.

•

Advanced Licenses/National Board Certification equals one lane change with a cap at Lane
MA+54. If a bargaining unit employee is in Ma + 54 or Doctorate and unable to apply Advanced
Licenses/National Board Certification to advance a lane, they will receive a base increase of
$2,000. Advanced Licenses/National Board Certification can only be used once.
o

DPS and DCTA will collaborate on a comparative analysis of the SSP salaries and
incentive(s) in order to make recommendations to the ProComp Implementation Team
on potential changes to the rules regarding advanced licensure movement and/or the
hard-to-fill incentive for these positions prior to the end of the 2018-2019 school year.

•

Movement earned through credit (university or PDU) past the BA+36/MA lane requires a
Masters. Movement into the Doctorate requires a Doctorate.

•

Professional Development and University Credits
o

Credits for salary advancement may be obtained from
(1) College credits, which must come from regionally accredited university programs
earned post-BA in a birth through twenty-one content or focus area; Credits must
have been completed after the Educator’s most recent and highest degree was
conferred.
(2) Professional Development Units (PDUs) as described below;
(3) District-sponsored PDUs provided by external providers and
(4) Continuing Education Units (CEUs) approved by DPS in accordance with
professional affiliations/associations for PDU credits. The ProComp Implementation
Team will approve the guidelines for CEU-based PDU credits.

o

A PDU is differentiated, action research learning with application to practice designed to
support teachers and SSPs to improve or acquire skills focused on topics of student
need, including closing the opportunity gap.

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 DCTA Counter Proposal: 02/14/2019 5:30AM
o

PDUs have three components – Study, Demonstration, and Reflection, with a course of
study of at least 45 hours for three credits. The approved PDU proposal will document
how the time will be allocated based on the PDU guidelines.

o

As documented in the approved PDU proposal, the 45 hours will include:




Time in instruction and/or participation in a learning cohort outside the school
day
time to read and study; and
time to reflect and apply learnings.

o

The author of the PDU proposal will determine and map out the allocation of the 45
hours.

o

Participants will not need to submit additional documentation of their hours of work;
the approved PDU completion will be adequate to apply for the lane change.

o

As with a college course, participants will earn the three credits upon facilitator
acknowledgment of completion.

o

Some courses of study might be offered for a PDU or university credit. In these cases,
participants need to choose either the PDU or the university credit, not both.

o

Teachers and SSPs can complete up to two PDUs per year.

o

All applications for PDUs must be submitted according to established guidelines. The
ProComp Implementation Team will approve the guidelines by consensus.

o

PDUs will be approved and managed by designated district leader on professional
development.

o

Employees who are not eligible to move a lane receive a $1000 payment for every PDU
earned (BA+36 without a Masters, MA+54, and Doctorate).

o

Teachers and SSPs that facilitate PDUs will be paid a flat $1500 stipend per PDU.

o

Required professional development will follow Master Agreement contract language
and is not eligible for PDUs, with the exception of district required ELA courses
discussed below.

o

Participants in required DPS ELA courses will earn DPS credit and/or graduate credit that
can be used for lane movement. DPS credit (15 contact hours is the equivalent of 1
credit) is available for all ELA required classes; university credit (paid for by DPS) is
available for certain courses. Participants cannot earn both DPS credit and university
credit for the same class.

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 DCTA Counter Proposal: 02/14/2019 5:30AM
o

•

Salary advancement may consist of a combination of post-BA university credits as well
as DPS credits. College or university credit must be from a DPS approved institution of
higher learning and applicable to the employee’s current or future teaching/role or
related educational field.

It is the employee’s responsibility to initiate a request for horizontal increases in salary due to
additional hours of training credit. Credit submitted and resulting in horizontal movement will
be effective no later than 30 days following submission and approval of the official transcript.

E. Incentives:
1. Distinguished Schools
Each year, the bargaining unit members in up to ten (10) schools may receive the Distinguished
Schools Incentive for their work around the whole child. Those schools shall be awarded this
$750 non-base building incentive based upon a process mutually created by the Association and
the District. The ten (10) schools must include a variety of student populations and regions from
ECE-High school including Pathways schools. Schools are only able to receive the bonus once
every three (3) years. The criteria will be defined by the ProComp Implementation Team no later
than April 30 of each year for the next year’s incentive.
a. The ProComp Implementation team shall use a process that considers the following
when awarding the Distinguished Schools Incentive:
1. Health Education
2. Physical Education and Physical Activity
3. Nutrition Environment and Services
4. Health Services
5. Counseling, Psychology, and Social Support Services
6. Social and Emotional School Climate
7. Physical Environment
8. Employee Wellness
9. Family Engagement
10. Community Involvement
11. Support for students in historically marginalized groups
b. The ProComp Implementation Team shall not use any of the following when deciding
which schools will receive the distinguished schools incentive:
1. The School Performance Framework
2. LEAP Ratings
3. The Student Perception Surveys used as part of the LEAP Process
c. The incentive shall be awarded in a lump sum no later than May 31 of each year.

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 DCTA Counter Proposal: 02/14/2019 5:30AM
2. Hard-to-Fill Positions Incentive: Educators working in assignments identified by
ProComp Implementation Team as hard-to-fill shall receive an incentive of $2,000/year.
The Department of Human Resources shall create and the ProComp
Implementation Team will approve a set of data that includes data on teacher
supply and teacher turnover for identifying hard-to-fill assignments.
3. Hard to Staff Schools Incentives:
i. Title I Incentive: All Educators who work in a Title I school will receive
$2,000/year in a non-base incentive.
ii. In addition to the Title I incentive, Educators who are retained in a Highest
Priority School will receive a $3,000 retention bonus, paid as a lump sum in the
fall for returning bargaining unit members. A maximum of 30 schools will be
eligible for this incentive. DPS and DCTA will agree to criteria for how these
schools are identified. The change from $2,500 to $3,000 will be funded by the
elimination of all central office executive performance-based bonuses.
1. DPS and DCTA will commission a joint research project conducted during
the term of this agreement to examine the root causes of educator
retention and turnover throughout the district’s High Priority Schools in
order to identify possible solutions. The findings shall be utilized to
determine if the incentive shall be continued.
2. HPI incentives earned during the 2018-2019 school year shall be paid in
the fall of 2019 in accordance with the current HPI structure and guidelines.
4. Tuition Reimbursement: Educators may receive reimbursement for up to a career
maximum of $6,000 spent on repayment of student loans or reimbursement for the
direct costs of their professional development related to assignment(s) for which they
are or could become qualified. Educators shall be eligible for up to $1,000 in any school
year. The Payroll Department will maintain guidelines for tuition reimbursement. The
ProComp Implementation Team will review and approve any substantive changes to
these guidelines. The ProComp Implementation Team has the authority to increase the
career maximum amount if the budget of the Trust supports the expansion.
F. Additional Financial Terms:
1. DPS will continue to honor the 2017-2020 Financial Agreement, which invested $ 45.3M
million new dollars in teacher compensation over the course of the 2017-18, 2018-19,
2019-20 school years.
If DPS and DCTA agree to a new structure for ProComp 3.0, DPS agrees to reopen the Financial Agreement in order to add $23 million new dollars to the
system for 2019-20.
2. DPS will also use up to $6 million from the ProComp Trust Fund balance to cover the
transition costs. The funds for transition costs will ensure:
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 DCTA Counter Proposal: 02/14/2019 5:30AM
i. All educators will receive a base-pay increase in 2019-20.
ii. Current employees who are below the agreed-upon Salary Schedule will be
placed on the schedule according to their current years of service and the lane
for which they are eligible.
iii. Current employees who are above the agreed-upon Salary Schedule will not see
any decrease in their salary. Current employees who are above the Salary
Schedule will receive an agreed upon cost-of-living increase (75% base and 25%
in a non-base payment) each year until the Salary Schedule catches up with
them and they begin advancing on the Salary Schedule.
iv. Educators who have six (6) or more banked PDUs as of January 19, 2019 may
either receive a lump sum payout for all of their PDUs on or before November
7, 2019 or move one (1) lane, if they remain employed by the district. Educators
with less than six (6) PDUs shall receive a lump sum payout for all of their PDUs
on or before November 7, 2019. Each PDU will be valued at $1700 when cashed
out in lump sum.
G. Financial Terms for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 School Years:
1. The district will provide a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for the 2020-21 and 2021-22
school years equivalent to Denver-Aurora-Lakewood Consumer Price Index (CPI) used in
the calculation of the School Finance Act of CPI. The 2020-21 COLA will be paid as a flat
amount which is calculated by multiplying the average base salary by CPI. The 2021-22
COLA will be paid as a percentage.
2. The financial terms of this Agreement will remain in effect until July 31, 2022 and
replace the 2017-2020 Financial Agreement. While it is the intent of the parties that the
economic provisions in this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect during its
term, in order to comply with the provisions of the TABOR Amendment and §22-3111(5) C.R.C, the provisions of the Agreement relating to benefits may be reopened by
the District in connection with its annual adoption of its budget.
H. Implementation Terms:
1. Educators will be placed on the Salary Schedule and begin receiving the incentives in
this Agreement beginning August 1, 2019.
2. Educators will still receive all current ProComp incentives for the remainder of the 201819 school year according to current procedures.
Signature:______________________________

Signature:________________________

Print Name:____________________________

Print Name: ______________________

Date:__________________________________

Date:____________________________
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 DCTA 2/14/19 - 5:30AM
Step/Lane
BA
1
45,800
2
46,869
3
48,434
4
49,998
5
51,563
6
53,127
7
54,692
8
56,256
9
57,820
10
59,385
11
60,949
12
62,514
13
64,078
14
65,642
15
67,207
16
68,771
17
70,336
18
71,900
19
73,465
20
75,029

BA+18
47,824
49,499
51,175
52,850
54,525
56,201
57,876
59,551
61,227
62,902
64,577
66,252
67,928
69,603
71,278
72,954
74,629
76,304
77,980
79,655

BA+36/MA
50,343
52,018
53,694
55,369
57,044
58,720
60,395
62,070
63,746
65,421
67,096
68,771
70,447
72,122
73,797
75,473
77,148
78,823
80,499
82,174

MA+18
53,091
54,831
56,572
58,312
60,053
61,793
63,534
65,274
67,014
68,755
70,495
72,236
73,976
75,716
77,457
79,197
80,938
82,678
84,419
86,159

MA+36
55,839
57,579
59,320
61,060
62,801
64,541
66,282
68,022
69,762
71,503
73,243
74,984
76,724
78,464
80,205
81,945
83,686
85,426
87,167
88,907

MA+54
58,587
60,327
62,068
63,808
65,549
67,289
69,030
70,770
72,510
74,251
75,991
77,732
79,472
81,212
82,953
84,693
86,434
88,174
89,915
91,655

Doctorate
61,335
63,344
65,353
67,362
69,371
71,380
73,389
75,398
77,407
79,416
81,424
83,433
85,442
87,451
89,460
91,469
93,478
95,487
97,496
100,000
Incentive

Additional Terms:
(a) Each PDU shall be the equivalent of three (3) college credits for the purposes of moving lanes.
(b) Educators with a National Board Certification &/or Advanced License/Certificate shall receive one (1) lane movement.
If one additional lane is not available, a $2000 increase to base shall be awarded.
(c ) Educators who are unable to move a lane for longevity shall receive a $2,000 increase to base.

Distinquished Schools (10 Schools)
Hard-to-Staff Positions
Title 1
Highest Priority Incentive
Tuition Reimbursement (Max. $6,000)

Per Year
$750
$2,000
$2,000
$3,000
$1,000