Fine arts teachers in Albuquerque Public Schools will see their incomes climb after a new union contract mandates they get paid for leading band camps and other activities outside of scheduled hours — something they had previously done without compensation.
The district’s Board of Education approved the contract Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Albuquerque Teachers Federation members ratified it, with 99% voting in favor.
According to the contract, a band director or assistant band director who conducts a two-week band camp will earn 10 more days of pay.
ATF President Ellen Bernstein said the union and the district have had the goal of increasing differential pay for teachers who run extracurricular activities for years. Last school year, she said, athletics educators received that boost.
Bernstein said the contributions teachers make outside the classroom are important to keep students engaged and enrolled.
Board member Josefina Dominguez played in a school marching band and she said she knows teachers put in long hours off the clock.
“I was elated that the fine arts people — who I like to call the most fun group in the district — they’re finally getting there,” she said.
All school employees will also get a 3% raise in the new contract — a pay bump that was approved by the New Mexico Legislature this spring. Teachers will also work 190 paid days this school year, two more than before.
The board unanimously approved the pact, which brings the average APS educator salary from $65,000 to just above $67,000.
Board member Courtney Jackson said she’s spoken to multiple teachers who expressed concern about not having enough time for preparation and lesson planning and asked if the contract negotiations touched on that issue.
Bernstein said more prep time has already been built into high school and middle school schedules.
She said they are still working to increase the time elementary school teachers have to prepare but that became more difficult when the Legislature increased the mandatory number of hours of instruction from 990 to 1,140.
Bernstein said she has talked to Superintendent Gabriella Durán Blakey about increasing staffing to permit more prep time and more collaboration time among teachers. She said schools need more state funding in order to pay for more staff.
“Research says that when we collaborate and we create lessons together and we have time to work together, that actually increases student achievement,” Bernstein said.