Denver teachers have overwhelmingly approved a revised contract with a 2.5 percent cost-of-living raise and 1.65 percent stipend if the economy improves.
About 92 percent of the teachers who voted last month agreed to lower the pay raise approved last year. Roughly 1,700 teachers, or two-thirds of the members of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, cast ballots.
School officials say a new contract for the districts 4,500 teachers was necessary because of the troubled economy. The three-year contract approved last year included an annual cost-of-living raise based on the inflation rate in the metropolitan area plus 0.25 percent. That amounted to a 4.15 percent increase for this school year.