Leon Schools reaches $5.12M salary deal with teachers, but Hanna points to cuts elsewhere

After 10 months of bargaining, the Leon Classroom Teachers Association and LCS agreed late Friday on a contract that includes $5.12 million in increases for salary raises.

Bargaining began in April 2023 with the teachers proposing roughly $6.7 million for salary raises to accommodate new and veteran teachers, reduce turnover and make salaries more equitable.

The district's original offer was about $4 million, leaving a $2 million gap that the teachers maintained the district could afford to cover.

The district's agreement to provide $5.12 million toward salaries still must be ratified by the union and approved by the School Board before it can be retroactively applied to the teachers' pay periods, dating back to Aug. 2.

Union representatives are seeking both approvals before the end of March.

"Our goal, and listening to teachers over the last couple of years is to address compression and add some separation between beginning teachers and teachers with tenure years," Superintendent Rocky Hanna told the Tallahassee Democrat Friday.

Compression is when salaries don't accurately reflect the experience and skills of a worker, and employers are pressed to provide fair compensation, most times with an overwhelmed budget.

The agreement comes weeks after teachers filled a school board meeting, baring their souls to the panel about fair pay and the inability to keep up with the cost of living.

The agreement reached at the end of a seven-hour bargaining session Friday would give all teachers a raise of $575 a year and an additional $100 for each year of teaching experience.

"We believe you need this additional money to retain people at the bottom," Chris Segal, a representative with the Florida Education Association said to the district's negotiators about new teachers.

Beginning teacher pay is currently set at $47,500 under a mandate set by the state in 2020 as an attempt to attract and retain teachers during an educator shortage.

"The teacher's advocacy made the total value of the package come up more than 20% of what the district provided originally. So, it shows that the district is listening, that we're moving in the right direction, but there's still a lot of work to be done because this is just the first step," LCTA President Scott Mazur told the Tallahassee Democrat.

The average salary for veteran teachers is about $50,450 before taxes, according to Mazur — $3,450 more than a beginning teacher. With the raise, a veteran teacher of 20 years can expect to take home about $2,575 more in pay for the year, and a teacher with three years of experience would get an additional $875.

The district's model addresses the concerns of veteran teachers, who have expressed a desire to be compensated more than beginning teachers, but it doesn't quiet cost-of-living concerns, Mazur said.

Some state legislators are currently advocating to raise the minimum base salary for teachers to a minimum of $65,000 under SB 136, dubbed the "Save Our Teachers Act.." It was filed by Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boca Raton, to address the rising cost of living and fair pay for teachers.

However, with the state pouring millions of tax dollars into private school vouchers, schools are losing state funding due to a reduction of students.

"We're doing the best we can with the limited resources we're receiving from the legislature. We're really at the mercy of the legislature each and every year. They're meeting right now about our budgets for next year and it looks bleak," Hanna told the Democrat.

Hanna, who is running for reelection, said managing the district's finances is a constant balancing act, and sacrifices were made to raise the salary package by $1.12 million.

To meet the budget, Hanna said reductions in administrative staff will be made this summer.

When asked what cuts would be made, Hanna said he was not prepared to give an answer.

School districts across the nation are facing a similar problem: Raise salaries to recruit and retain teachers while also allocating dollars to support non-instructional positions which previously have been covered by federal COVID relief money. That money will no longer be available.

LCS added positions for additional social workers, mental health specialists and academic tutors as resources for students struggling in the post-COVID environment.

"There's a give and take and unfortunately for us to come up with this salary package something has to give, and I can't go into our savings account in our fund balance any more than we already have. We just have to tighten our belt and find out what programs are of vital importance and non-negotiable," Hanna said.

More: Bargaining battle: Leon County teachers, district $2M apart on salary proposal

Alaijah Brown covers children & families for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached at ABrown1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Leon Schools, teachers union reach $51.2 million salary deal