Denver union officials are describing the week of lost learning time from a citywide teachers strike as a “win” because it managed to leverage more money from taxpayers for union members.

“This agreement is a win, plain and simple: for our students; for our educators; and for our communities,” Denver Classroom Teachers Association President Henry Roman said of a new contract agreement reached with Denver Public Schools on Thursday. “No longer will our students see their education disrupted because their teachers cannot afford to stay in their classrooms.”

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About half of the city’s teachers walked out on their students Monday over a labor contract dispute that’s dragged on since the union and district negotiators began talks more than a year ago. The DCTA wanted DPS to reduce bonuses and incentives for educators in hard-to-fill positions and struggling schools to funnel more funds through the union seniority based salary schedule.

Essentially, the changes move money out of the district’s performance based pay system and into the union step and lane schedule, which bases pay on automatic annual step increases and college credits that don’t necessarily translate to effective teaching.

District negotiators agreed to many of the union’s demands, and the dispute largely boiled down to about $300 per teacher difference on the salary schedule when union negotiators walked out of a bargaining session and called for the strike last weekend, according to media reports.

The Coloradoan reports:

The tentative agreement still must be approved by the full Denver Classroom Teachers Association membership, addresses compensation schedules and a bonus structure for teachers.

The full tentative agreement will be shared later today, according to a news release from the DCTA. The agreement, according to the union, includes a 7 to 11 percent (increase) in base salary, a “clear and transparent 20-step salary schedule, full cost of living increases in years two and three of the agreement, the opportunity to use professional development to move lanes on the salary schedule, and an end to exorbitant five-figure bonuses for senior DPS administrators.”

District officials also released a statement praising the agreement, though it remains unclear how much the deal will ultimately cost taxpayers.

“We’re very pleased to have reached this agreement that provides our educators with a fair, transparent, and highly competitive salary system,” the statement read.

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“The tentative agreement invests an additional $23 million in teacher pay,” it continued. “The ProComp incentive for teachers in the highest-poverty schools increases to $3,000, and the incentives for teaching in Title I schools and hard-to-fill positions are $2,000.”

The Denver strike follows a rash of teacher walkouts across the nation over the last year. It came just days after teachers in Los Angeles ditched students for over a week to successfully picket for increased spending the district could not afford.

In both Denver and Los Angeles, socialist and communist agitators worked alongside teachers union bosses to vilify school officials as greedy capitalist money mongers hell-bent on privatizing education and starving public schools. In both districts, administrators hired scores of substitutes and staffed classrooms to keep schools open, though the strike melee made it all but impossible for effective learning.

The trend is expected to continue in Oakland, where unionized educators have declared their intent to strike later this week, EdSource reports.