Photo by David Clow – Maryland

For once, Washington Teachers’ Union president’s George Parker’s robo-call to teachers assuring them that contract negations were nearly finished wasn’t just talk. City Paper’s Mike DeBonis first broke the news Tuesday evening that the union had at last reached a tentative contract agreement with D.C. Public Schools, ending more than two years of extremely contentious negotiations. DeBonis obtained draft internal documents detailing elements of the agreement, and they’re filled with the juicy details.

Among the provisions are an overall 21.6 percent raise in base teacher salaries, a voluntary performance pay program, but also preservation of tenure and basic due process protections for teachers. The Washington Post’s Bill Turque declares that the ‘103-page deal is significantly different from Rhee’s original vision for a collective bargaining agreement, which she promised would “revolutionize education as we know it” when she first developed it in 2008.’ Says Rhee to Turque: “What has evolved is our common understanding of what is important and what is not important. The thing that is important is that everyone understands that tenure doesn’t mean a job for life.”

Roughly $64.5 million from four private donors will be used to finance the salary increases and performance pay components, in which teachers will be able to earn annual bonuses based on student achievement.

Parker, Rhee, Mayor Adrian Fenty and AFT President Randi Weingarten will all be on hand to unveil the proposed agreement at an 11 a.m. press conference at Elliot-Hine Middle School. The contract must still be voted on by union membership and approved by the D.C. Council before it can be implemented.