Baltimore Teachers Union and school system leaders have officially signed the recently ratified teachers union contract, kicking into high gear months of planning and implementation of the landmark pact.
The signing came after the city school board voted to unanimously in a special meeting Wednesday night to approve the contract, which overhauls the way teachers are compensated and promoted in the district.
School and union officials will begin meeting immediately to appoint committees that will oversee the implementation of the contract, and plan to announce those appointments in January.
The contract, which is the first of its kind in the country, was ratified by the majority of union members on Nov. 17, after failing to garner the majority of union voters in October.
The pact eliminates "step" increases, which are based on tenure in the system and the number of master's degrees obtained, and instead allows teachers to climb a self-paced career ladder that ties their pay to their performance in the classroom.
The contract will also give teachers an automatic 2 percent pay increase and $1,500 bonus, which school system officials said should be reflected in paychecks this month.