Boston Teachers Union ratifies new contract with wage hikes, inclusion updates

Grace Zokovitch, Boston Herald on Apr 11, 2025

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BOSTON — The Boston Teachers Union voted to ratify a new contract with Boston Public Schools after over a year of bargaining.

“Together, we’ve secured critical investments in student support, meaningful wage increases for educators – especially for paraprofessionals – and an inclusion model that increases resources for students with special needs, as well as for educators,” said BTU President Erik Berg. … “This is a win for educators, students, parents, and our entire community.”

The union and school district officials announced they reached a tentative agreement in late March, narrowly avoid a demonstration the teachers planned to conduct outside Mayor Wu’s State of the City address.

The union, representing over 10,000 teachers and staff, has been operating under an expired contract since August and stated they negotiated over 45 bargaining sessions before reaching the agreement.

The new contract includes the “highest wage increase for paraprofessionals in BTU history,” with classroom paraprofessionals slated to receive a 23-31% pay increase over three years. This would raise their starting salary from $30,000 to $40,000, the BTU stated.

“For quite some time, I’ve struggled with my own decision of remaining as a paraprofessional,” said Tracy Romain, Chittick Elementary School paraprofessional. “These improvements are not just a victory for educators, but for the students we serve every day.”

Teachers are set to receive a 9-11.5% raise within the contract, and ABA specialists will see a 28% salary increase over three years.

The contract includes hard-fought inclusion provisions, including adding a special education teacher in classes with greater need, guarantees that general education teachers will not be required to obtain special education licenses, a new centralized team of special education teachers supporting classes, and more.

The contract also adds personal days for paraprofessionals, a $1,000 tuition reimbursement available to all teachers after a year, and formal positions for parents on Inclusion Planning Teams.