POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Veteran teachers and support staff in Polk County could soon see salary bumps after a tentative agreement between the school district and teachers union.
“We needed to start addressing our veteran staff who have not seen the raises that the base salaries have seen,” said Stephanie Yocum, president of Polk Education Association.
Polk County Public Schools has tentatively agreed with the teachers union regarding salaries and benefits for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
The Polk Education Association (PEA) president said the contract includes new salary schedules that address pay compression for veteran teachers and support staff while continuing a no-premium health plan.
While new teachers had their starting pay rise to $47,500 per year last year, many seasoned educators were not given raises until now.
“Our base salary has seen an increase of $6,500, but our veteran teaching staff has only seen about $3,000 over the last three years because of the way the laws were written, and they were very restrictive on how we could allocate those funds,” said Yocum. “Now that we are at the state minimum, we worked really hard to start putting together a plan to break up the compression.”
The tentative agreement totals $16.5 million, specifically for salary increases. Under the proposed agreement, $10.6 million will go toward teacher salaries, primarily $9.7 million of state-directed Teacher Salary Increase Allocation (TSIA) funds.
The tentative agreement also allocates $5.8 million for salaries for paraeducators, secretaries, and other similar support positions.
TSIA funds are part of the state initiative to increase the minimum beginning teacher salary to $47,500.
The salary increase will depend on how an instructional employee has been teaching. A person with ten years of experience would see an increase of about $2,000 yearly.
“For the county to come and say this is the best that they have, it’s an insult,” said Octavio Hernandez.
Hernandez has been teaching for two decades. He does not think the pay increase is enough to cover the rising cost of living.
"We’re not talking about splurging and buying a new car. We're talking about just making ends meet on our bills, and getting a $100 raise is not enough,” Hernandez said.
Members of the PEA must now vote on whether to accept this salary package.
