Broward teachers could get average 3.96% raises after months of negotiations
South Florida Sun Sentinel | By Scott Travis | February 6, 2024
Broward teachers would get an average 3.96% annual raise, on top of referendum dollars they’ve already gotten, under a tentative agreement.
The agreement was reached Monday between the Broward Teachers Union and the school district after months of contentious negotiations.
It still must be approved by a vote of teachers and the School Board to take effect.
Under the plan, which would be retroactive to July 1:
- Teachers ranked highly effective under the pay-for-performance plan would get 4.56%.
- Teachers ranked effective would get 3.42%.
- Teachers in the grandfathered tenure system, mostly teachers hired before 2011, would get 3.65% if they are rated effective or highly effective.
This is in addition to the stipends of between $500 and $12,000 annually they received in August.
The stipends were funded by a referendum voters approved in 2022 to boost teacher pay.
“The net result of that is a 14% increase in compensation this year. That number needs to get out,” School Board member Allen Zeman told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The latest pay increase follows more than seven months of tense negotiations.
In November, the district would only offer the 1.7% pay increase earmarked by the state for teacher raises.
The union had asked for 7% and 9% increases in separate sessions.
Teachers packed several budget hearings and public meetings last year to plead for more money, saying they couldn’t afford to live in South Florida.
District officials later offered 3.96% but only 2.7% of that being recurring and 1.26% being a one-time bonus.
“We got further into the budget year with greater certainty about the funds,” Zeman said. “We found some places we could save money in other programs.”
