Beginning Monday, Feb. 11, Denver School District teachers engaged in a three-day strike to demand a new pay agreement from the district. When meeting to discuss new contracts for teachers, the district disagreed with the teachers on pay increases and the size of bonuses for teachers working in high-poverty and priority schools. The teachers’ goal for the negotiation was to lessen bonuses in order to generate more funds for overall salaries, but the district views the bonuses as a way to boost academic performance.

Meetings over the weekend made little progress, and the bargaining team tweeted, “We can do better,” which resulted in the strike at the beginning of the week as teachers picketed around schools within the district.

This strike was backed by 93 percent of participating members in the teacher’s union. Due to the support from the teachers, the district was required to bring in administrators and substitute teachers to fill the empty classroom to maintain class as scheduled for the students. Not all of the schools were able to remain open, as the preschools did not receive enough support to care for all of the students there.

The strike ended on Thursday morning, as an all-night bargaining session resulted in a new compensation deal for the teachers. This deal included an additional $23.1 million toward teacher compensation including 11.7 percent raises next year and new salary beginning at $45,000 a year, topping out at $100,000 annually. Also supporting teacher retention is an increased $3,000 bonus for teachers in the 30 highest-priority schools on the condition of a collaborative study to determine the effectiveness of the incentives’ work.

The teachers and district hope this new deal will encourage teachers to keep educators from leaving the city due to the increasing cost of living and create a more even, predictable pay for those working in the district.