Orange County School Board approves pay increases for teachers
Spectrum News 13 | By Randy Rauch | October 17, 2024
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — After a 12-hour Orange County School Board impasse hearing Wednesday, members resolved some bargaining issues between the school district and the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association.
After hearing CTA’s proposal for a 4.4% teacher raise, citing several key reasons, the school board approved:
- Teacher salary increases
- 2.25% salary increase for teachers rated highly effective (93% of teachers evaluated)
- 1.7% increase for those rated effective (6.5% of teachers evaluated)
- One-year continuation of retention supplements
- One-year continuation of select supplements
- Allowing three days of District–paid bereavement leave
- Allowing non-classroom teachers to work remotely
- Adding Federal Pump Act language into contract
- Changes to the instructional evaluation article
Teachers say their key demands are the reasons many instructors have left the profession while others have had to take on second jobs just to pay the bills.
During Wednesday’s hearing, CTA negotiators pointed out that Orange County teacher salaries rank 31st in the state, while the school district superintendent’s salary ranks 4th in Florida.
The six main points they focused on included:
- Wages
- Paperwork reduction
- Breast milk pumping and storage
- Parent leave
- Extend years of experience supplement
- Select ESE & License Supplements
CTA President Clinton McCracken says all the key points are essential in retaining and hiring new teachers in the future.
However, the board sided with the district on one key point — parental leave — saying the district does not have enough funding for 12 weeks of paid parental leave, which it estimates at $5.6 million annually.
The board strongly urged the district and CTA to go back to the bargaining table to work on a viable comprehensive parental leave program.
