Under CORE’s leadership, the CTU has won class size protections, more bilingual education provisions and sanctuary schools protections, the first healthy green schools provisions in our new contract LGBTQIA+ protections and other crucial provisions. CTU members will see big COLA raises in our current contract and bigger raises for paraprofessionals while keeping healthcare costs down and expanding healthcare access and benefits. We’ve secured added salary steps to address stagnant veteran pay, with a step in place for every year of service up to year 25, plus longevity bonuses for teachers with more than 25 years. We are adding special education staff, librarians, social workers, counselors, bilingual and class-size TAs, fine arts and physical education teachers, technology coordinators and more. Additionally, all elementary teachers will receive more time to prepare and collaborate.

Our current contract advancements, which passed with record turnout and approval, would not have been possible without the last 15 years of work by CORE leadership. We finally won back the bargaining rights taken from us in 1995, and we helped elect public education champions as members of Chicago’s first elected school board, with others appointed by the mayor (and former CORE member) we helped elect. And we are working with our allies in Springfield to improve school funding, fix Tier 2, and dismantle REACH. But we’ll have to fight to win if we are to make the most of those opportunities. That’s why we need CORE to keep leading!

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