Broward teachers seek 3.5% to 5% raise

It could be a banner year for the salaries of South Florida educators

Broward and Palm Beach County teachers likely will pull in record high paychecks in the coming years.

That’s thanks to new taxes approved by voters and ongoing salary negotiations that will bring the educators even more money.

Teachers are asking their school districts for raises of up to 5%. That’s on top of the average 7 percent most teachers in Broward and average 14% most teachers in Palm Beach County are getting from a four-year property tax approved by voters in both counties last year.

Teachers say they need to catch up for years of inadequate or no increases that have helped keep Florida in the bottom tier of national teacher salary rankings. National Education Association research shows Florida teachers, who earn an average $48,395 a year, make the fourth-lowest salaries in the country.

Broward teachers are seeking 3.5 to 5% increases for the current year, depending on years of service and evaluation scores. School district negotiators offered 1.5%.

The union and district have been in contentious negotiations for the past few months over salaries and health benefits. After months of stalemate, the Broward teachers union declared an impasse last week, which means an administrative judge will hear both sides and make a recommendation to the School Board.

“Broward Teachers Union just declared impasse! 1.5% is an insult. We’ve waited five months for their proposal. Seriously!” union president Anna Fusco wrote on Facebook.

“Sadly this is the name of the game this year in many districts and PBC looks on a similar trajectory,” Palm Beach County union president Justin Katz wrote in response to Fusco’s post.

In Palm Beach County, teachers asked for 4.5%. The district offered 3%. The starting salary for new teachers in both counties is

Vicki Evans-Pare,

Palm Beach County’s chief negotiator

Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper says she is a much more patient person after living two years under a legal cloud. She was arrested in 2018 after being charged with official misconduct in an FBI sting.

the same: $41,000. Broward teacher salaries top out with a base salary of about $75,000, while in Palm Beach County the highest base is $84,000. These rates don’t include supplements such as coaching, working summer school or having a doctorate or other advanced degree that can move a teacher’s salary even higher.

Supplements allow some teachers to make enough money to compete with jobs in the private sector. In Palm Beach County, the highest paid teacher, an ROTC instructor at Palm Beach Gardens High, earns $109,473.

In Broward, the highest paid instructor is a cosmetology teacher who works at Sheridan Technical High School in Fort Lauderdale. She makes about $132,000 a year.

Teachers at technical centers, where students learn skills such as culinary arts, car repair and nursing, earn more because they work a ninehour day and through the summer.

Broward spokeswoman Kathy Koch said teachers are benefiting from an average boost of more than 7% this year because of the property tax. Coupled with the district’s offer, teachers would get an almost 9% hike, she said.

“This compensation package would equate to a total of an 8.94% increase for the 2019-20 school year,” she said.

The supplements produced by the tax will disappear in 2022 unless voters authorize renewals.

In Palm Beach County, teachers with one to five years of experience are getting $1,000 a year through the tax, six to nine years $5,000 a year, and 10 or more years $10,000 a year.

“When you calculate it all in, it’s a substantial increase,” said Vicki EvansPare, Palm Beach County’s chief negotiator.

The Palm Beach County teachers union negotiations with the school district are less pugnacious than Broward’s. Last year, Katz called the negotiations the “quickest and most amicable” in his 12-year tenure with the school system. Negotiations will resume Jan. 9.

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