Santa Rosa County teachers, school district at stalemate in pay raise negotiations

Santa Rosa County’s Professional Educators are entering the new year without a pay raise offer from the Santa Rosa County School District, despite seven rounds of negotiation.

The school district’s most recent offer was a 3.06% raise for teachers, but it was rejected by the teacher’s union, which is requesting a 5.04% wage increase.

The union’s chief negotiator said the district’s offer isn't enough to compensate for issues such as a spike in health insurance premiums and wage compression caused by a mandatory, state-initiated salary increase that took effect this summer.

District Superintendent Karen Barber addressed the public about the current state of negotiations during the Dec. 14 school board meeting, saying that the district was “really hopeful” that they were going to have an agreement locked down before Christmas.

However, the Santa Rosa County Professional Educators President and Chief Negotiator David Godwin said that the district did not make what he considers to be its first “serious” salary offer until Dec. 5, even though they had been meeting for months.

Because of the Florida Teacher Salary Increase Allocation, the state has committed to contribute a 1.8% salary increase to the negotiation contract, but only if the district contributed out of its own budget. If they did not, teachers would not receive the allocation, Godwin said.

The district’s first offer to the union was at 1.87%, meaning the district only put forward 0.07% out of its $9.4 million in discretionary funds, Godwin said. This was “very discouraging” to the union, Godwin said, especially when the district brought that same offer back to the table when reconvening on Nov. 9.

“They didn’t give us a legitimate offer,” Godwin said. “Dec. 5 was the first time the district put forward any of their own money.”

In December, the district brought forward a 3.06% offer, pulling 1.26% out of the district’s discretionary funds and 1.8% out of state allocation, he said.

The Union is countering this with a proposed 5.04% increase, with 3.24% of the increase coming from the district’s discretionary funds, and the remainder from the state’s allocation.

Godwin said that the state salary allocation was not intended to be a replacement for district funds, but a contribution that ensures Florida schools are able to pay teachers equitably.

Discussing some issues teachers are facing, Godwin, a teacher at Pace High School, said he knows of at least two teachers whose monthly insurance premium has risen from $157 to $625, totaling over $5,000 more per year. Although that is an extreme hike, he said many teachers are seeing at least a $100 increase.

Godwin said he is also working to address the compression created by raising the starting salary for teachers to $47,500, which he said was “demoralizing” for veteran teachers because fresh-out-college teachers were making the same amount.

He said it is a problem that will likely take years of negotiations to fully resolve, but he feels the union’s offer is a starting point.

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“We’re trying to deal with the salary compression. Our proposal does address the salary compression,” he said. “There’s no way you can (resolve) it one year.”

Godwin said the district gave administrators a 4.33% increase last year out of district funds alone without any state allocation. Godwin estimates that Barber has created 17 administrative positions since she became superintendent, with about 11 of them working in the district office, not with students.

Godwin said with the school district earning an A grade from the state this past school year, the teachers are the ones who need to be most rewarded, since they are the ones working directly with students.

Barber said at the time that the administrator raise would help alleviate disproportionate pay that is causing some of the district’s leaders to take a pay cut with their promotions.

Barber said she found one vice principal in the district would be making $11 more per hour as a teacher than she is in her current role. To continue attracting strong leaders, the gap had to be closed, she said.

Discussing the district’s 3.06% offer during the Dec. 14 school board meeting, Barber said the district needs to maintain its A+ credit rating, which requires a minimum finance ratio of 5%.

While negotiating, Barber said that they “cannot make a decision that would put the district in crisis.”

Barber also said there was an inequity in district funding when compared to surrounding counties, with Santa Rosa County being funded significantly less than neighboring counties like Escambia but still presenting an offer to the union.

Godwin in said that if the district wants to compare funding across neighboring districts, they should be comparing how much they are funded per student, since Escambia County was recorded to have 7,087 more students than Santa Rosa County for the 2022-2023 school year and should not be compared by the funding sum alone.

Santa Rosa is being funded $8,533 per student, compared to Escambia at $8,515, when combining local and state funding, coming out to about $18 more per student.

Godwin said the $8,533 was a higher number than he had seen for at least 10 years, which is in part why he doesn’t think the union should have to back down.

“We’re going to do everything we can to secure a fair wage,” Godwin said.

Negotiations will resume after the holidays on Jan 16.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Santa Rosa Professional Educators fighting for a salary increase