Seminole teachers to get raises at end of May after school board approves pay plan

Orlando Sentinel | By Leslie Postal | April 5, 2023

Teachers with Seminole County Public Schools will get raises starting May 26 after both the teachers union and the school board voted to approve a salary agreement that gives most instructors pay hikes of about $2,000 to $2,400.

Because the agreement covers the current school year, teachers will get a lump sum of back pay — to make their raise retroactive to the start of the year in August — in that May 26 paycheck, too. Teachers with 10 or more years of experience also will get bonuses of at least $500 that will be paid April 28.

The Seminole County School Board voted to approve the compensation agreement, which the union and district staff agreed to in mid-March, at its Tuesday meeting. Teachers ratified the plan, 1,068-32, a week earlier.

The plan boosts starting teacher pay to $48,500.

The union and the district plan were at an impasse in the fall, with the Seminole Education Association, the local union, arguing the A-rated school district needed to pay its teachers better than what it called a “C-minus salary.”

The just-approved pay package is the biggest percentage increase in pay teachers have seen since the 2007-08 school year, administrators said.