Orange County teachers voting on 2nd contract

Proposed compensation package is designed to give most a $2,800 raise

Orange County public school teachers are, for the second time this year, voting on a proposed compensation package, with the latest proposal designed to give most of them $2,800 raises and to push back hikes to health insurance costs until next fall.

The ballots were mailed to more than 14,000 teachers on Nov. 18 and must be returned by Dec. 5. The teachers union plans to announce the results Dec. 6.

“We’re just hoping for a yes vote,” said Wendy Doromal,

president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association, the local union. “We’re hearing positive things.”

In July, Orange’s teachers overwhelmingly defeated the first proposal the union and the district agreed to, sparking a new round of contentious bargaining that ended with a second agreement reached on Nov. 8.

The July vote was the first time teachers in Central Florida’s largest school district had ever turned down a contract negotiated by their union.

Many teachers were angry and upset by that the first proposal only offered small raises, one-time bonuses that didn’t help their long-term financial security and steep hikes in their monthly insurance expenses.

Some remain skeptical of the new deal. “I’m voting no and will encourage others as well,” one wrote on Facebook this month about the new proposal.

But the new package offers bigger raises than the one teachers rejected, which would have provided $2,025 as the top raise compared with the $2,800 pay hike in the new offer, which more than 80% of teachers would receive. It also delays the increased insurance costs until October, meaning this school year teachers are paying what they did last year.

Many teachers responded positively online to news of a deal. “This is a good step in the right direction. There’s more to be done but this is definitely progress,”

another wrote on the union’s Facebook page.

In a videotaped message, the Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union, praised the new deal and Orange’s local union.

“This is probably one of, if not the best, contracts we’ve seen in the state of Florida this year,” said Andrew Spar, the union’s vice president. “So congratulations on a job well done. Sticking together makes a difference.”

Some teachers remain worried that they’ll still take a hit on insurance next fall when the cost of covering family members could rise steeply and the price for copayments for doctor’s visits likely will go up, too.

Others are upset that school administrators got bigger raises than teachers, with top-rated ones in line for raises of more than $5,000, according to the agreement the Orange County School Board approved Nov. 12.

But union officials said they were happy they got more money for salaries and delayed the insurance hikes. They also said that insurance costs are likely to rise again next year — as is happening nationally — but the district has agreed that the increases for employees won’t be any higher next year than what was proposed this year.

The district, which is self insured, said it need to raise insurance costs for employees because the fund was running a deficit that was expected to grow in the coming year.

Administrators said the district will cover this year’s health insurance costs and higher raises by using money in its reserve fund but will need to replace that next year. Hopefully, state funds will cover that but, if not, the district might have to make cuts elsewhere, they said.

“It doesn’t replenish itself,” said Teresa Jacobs, chair of the school board, the night the board voted to approve the agreement with the union and send it to a vote by teachers. “That’s where the heavy lifting comes.”

But she and other board members said they decided to shift the money because they “heard the feedback” from teachers, who did not want bonuses and viewed salaries as their “number one priority.”