Frequently Asked Questions for Students Regarding the DCTA Strike

You have probably been hearing about the teacher strike in the news. While we definitely do not have all of the information, we wanted to put together some Frequently Asked Questions and try to answer them for you as best we can.  If you have any further questions or worries, please talk to your School Director.

 Frequently Asked Questions

1. What does it mean to be a public school?

   -A public school is paid for by public money and are schools that are open to all students. Any student can attend for free. Every DSST school is a public school.

   -All public schools in Colorado get their money through taxes   and funding from the federal, state and local government.  This includes charter schools too. Colorado is a great state, but unfortunately education funding in Colorado is not so great.  Education funding means the money that schools get to do all sorts of things like buy things for the school and pay its teachers.

   -Colorado has cut funding for public schools by $7 billion since 2009.  Colorado ranks almost toward the bottom of the whole country when it comes to how much money it gives to education.

   -DSST thinks it’s very important to keep working to increase education funding in Denver and Colorado and we will continue to fight for this.  DSST supported the Red for Ed protest last year at the State Capitol and Amendment 73 to increase education funding in our state.

2. What is a charter school?

   -Charter schools are independently-run public schools that have more flexibility than a traditional public school on certain things like how they hire teachers, the curriculum they use for their classes, and other decisions about how the school runs.  

   -Two major misconceptions (things that people might think are true but are not true) about charter schools are that they are private schools that charge tuition to attend and that charter schools take funding from traditional schools.  All charter schools and charter networks in the state are non-profit organizations, meaning they are not able to make a profit.

   -DSST is a charter school, and all our schools are public. If you ever hear someone say that DSST is a for-profit school or a private school you can tell them that is not true!  

3. What types of schools are in DPS?

   -There are 3 main types of schools that make up DPS.  All are public schools.

   -They are public charter schools, innovation schools, and traditional public schools.

4. What is a strike?

   -A strike is when workers refuse to go to work because workers or their union cannot come to an agreement with their employer.  

   -There are a lot of legal, technical rules about strikes.  They can be very complicated.

5. What’s going on with the teacher strike in DPS?

   -This strike is between the teacher’s union (DCTA) and the teacher’s employer who is DPS.

   -Strikes can happen for many reasons that have to do with working conditions and/or pay.

   -DSST is not involved in this negotiation or disagreement, so all DSST schools will be open, with normal schedules. DSST teachers are not part of the contract between DPS and DCTA.

   -Even though DSST is not a part of this disagreement, we support ALL denver teachers and ALL Denver schools.  DSST will continue to advocate for more education funding in our state. We hope a fair agreement is reached soon, and we want all students to be receiving a great education so that all students can succeed.

6. Is this the same as Red for Ed?

   -This is not the same as Red for Ed.

   -Red for Ed is a movement to push for more education funding across the board- at the federal, state, and local government level.

   -The strike happening right now is from a dispute between DPS and DCTA and is about how to divide the existing money that DPS gets.

7. What is a picket line?

   -Once the strike begins, you may observe a picket line of people with posters outside of school.

   -A picket line is defined as “a boundary established by workers on strike, especially at the entrance to the place of work.”  

   -Don’t be alarmed. Please know that your school leaders and teachers will be there, and are fully prepared to make sure schools run smoothly. DSST Public Schools will be running as usual, and you will be able to enter and exit safely.