Phila. teacher raises put in 3 pct. range

Philadelphia public school teachers would receive raises in the 3 percent range under a three-year contract settlement they will vote on tonight, according to sources close to the negotiations.

But it wasn't clear how many raises there would be or when the first raise would kick in, although it would not be immediately.

Teachers in the 167,000-student district received a 4 percent raise in March under a contract extension.

Union and district officials declined to release details until union leadership could brief teachers today.

A beginning teacher in the district receives $42,755, the median salary is $66,986, and the high is $84,882.

Two sources familiar with the negotiations but who did not disclose details said the financial terms were "not outrageous."

They also said the contract was not expected to depend on any extra city or state help to pay for it. The second source called the package "fiscally responsible."

The percentage increase for teachers is the latest detail to emerge on the pact, which was reached over the long Martin Luther King's Birthday weekend and announced Tuesday morning.

The 17,000-member Philadelphia Federation of Teachers will meet at 7 tonight to vote on the pact, which runs through August 2012.

While union leaders said they were pleased with the terms, complaints were mounting yesterday among some teachers concerned that they had not received details from the union and wanted more time before the vote.

PFT officials said doors at Temple University's Liacouras Center will open at 5:30 p.m. so that teachers could get a copy of the contract and review it before the union presentation and vote.

If teachers approve the pact, the School Reform Commission will vote on it next week.

The contract also includes more pay for teachers working longer hours in some of the lowest-performing schools, including a group of schools likely to be named for overhaul next week under Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's Renaissance program, sources said.

More schools will be allowed to fill all their teacher vacancies in-house under "site selection," sources said, meaning leadership teams at the school interview and hire. Fifty-eight of the district's 290-plus schools have full site selection.

The teachers' previous four-year pact had been extended five times since it expired in August 2008, making it one of the most protracted negotiations in the district's history.

Teachers would work under the old contract - which expired at 12:01 a.m. Saturday - until the new one was approved.