City teachers voted overwhelmingly Friday in support of ratifying a new three-year contract that includes a 13 percent pay raise — but that does not move them onto a state health insurance plan. Electronic voting opened on Wednesday and closed on Friday at 5 p.m. for teachers union members to weigh in on a tentative contract agreement that — if approved by the union, the Board of Education, and the Board of Alders — would extend from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029. (The current three-year deal expires June 30, 2026.) City teachers union President Leslie Blatteau told the Independent Friday that, of the 1,190 votes cast in total, 1,083 (91 percent) were in support of ratifying the new contract, 85 (7 percent) were against, and 22 (1.9 percent) abstained. Blatteau said the teachers union and the public school district will hold a joint press conference Monday at 11:30 a.m. at King/Robinson School to discuss the contract and celebrate Friday’s ratification vote. Mayor Justin Elicker, who is also a voting member on the Board of Education, told the Independent Friday that he is very happy all parties came to an agreement without having to go to arbitration. “I completely understand the teachers wanting to have higher salaries and even better healthcare. That’s a goal that we share,” he said. “We think that we made progress, but we have more progress to work on together by working to push the state to provide more funds to the the New Haven Public Schools.” The school district’s spokesperson said the district will share a statement at Monday’s press conference. The tentative deal was reached in December after educators spent months raising concerns about wages, healthcare costs, workload, and classroom conditions, warning that the contract terms would affect educator retention and student learning. Click here, here, and here to read past coverage about educators’ demands during the negotiation process. The now-ratified contract includes average salary increases totaling 13.53 percent over three years. It preserves current health insurance premium cost-sharing and makes changes to class size caps, teacher workday protections, and leave policies. It also allows the union to select one member to serve on the district’s hiring committee for administrative positions, requires the district to publish a line-by-line item budget on its website, and removes the union from the district’s input process for creating the school-year calendar. The ratified deal does not, however, switch teachers onto Connecticut’s State Partnership Plan for health insurance, which had been one of the union’s top demands during negotiations. Elicker noted this is the second round of negotiations his administration has had with the teachers union since he took office in 2020. He described the union and its organizers as “passionate” and “very good at negotiating a good deal on behalf of their members.” He concluded that he is grateful for this because he agrees that teachers deserve a fair contract because he sees their hard work on a daily basis, particularly given that his two children attend the city’s public schools. The ratified contract now heads to the Board of Education and then to the Board of Alders for subsequent review and votes. The post Teachers Ratify New 3-Year Contract appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less