Tucson Unified School District substitute teachers will gain new benefits this school year through a newly negotiated agreement.
The TUSD governing board unanimously approved its first-ever bargaining agreement Tuesday evening after an 18-month-long negotiation process.
The Tucson Unified School District governing board has approved its first bargaining agreement for substitute teachers.
The 30-page agreement establishes a $200 stipend after 50 assignments per semester, and an extra $200 stipend upon reaching 140 total annual assignments. The agreement also guarantees paid participation in professional learning days, long-term substitute pay bumps, due process in disciplinary actions, earned sick leave accrual parameters, unpaid leave procedures and health insurance eligibility.
“This is a big moment,” Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo told the board before the agreement presentation. “You're considering an agreement that would make TUSD one of the first districts in Arizona to have a negotiated agreement and to engage in bargaining with its teacher workforce.”
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Sick leave and health insurance eligibility were things the district already did for substitute teachers, said TUSD director of employee relations Jason Freed, but now “it's something that they can point to in writing.”
The board also approved a 4% raise for substitute teachers in May, bringing last school year’s $160 per day rate to $166.40.
“Very few districts in Arizona, and also quite frankly, very few districts in the entire country have substitutes represented by a union,” said Tucson Education Association, the district’s teachers union, president Jim Byrne.
