Broward County teachers, district reach agreement for next year

Tentative deal includes salary hikes and a $2,000 bonus in 2021-22 school year

Teachers in Broward County soon will see a pay increase and a $2,000 stipend if the Broward Teachers Union and Broward School District’s tentative agreement for the 2021-22 school year is approved.

The school district and union agreed on several terms during negotiations Thursday, the school district announced in a news release Thursday night.

All teachers will receive the one-time $2,000 stipend, and salary increases will range from 1 to 1.33%, according to the release.

Teachers who did not qualify for the state’s $1,000 Educator Disaster Relief Payment will get a $1,000 bonus.

Anna Fusco, Broward Teachers Union president, said those $1,000 payments will go to about 1,200 district personnel.

The pay raises will be 1.33% for “highly effective” and 1% for “effective” rated teachers and 1.07% for teachers who have worked in the school system prior to 2011. The “effective” and “highly effective” ratings come from the teacher’s evaluations, Fusco said.

The district’s multilingual staff, such as psychologists, family counselors and social workers who have taken on increased caseloads, will receive a $500 bonus, according to the release and Fusco.

Family counselors, psychologists and social workers who are bilingual and multilingual have seen increased caseloads this year, so the negotiations included that increased workload for an estimated few hundred staff, Fusco said.

“Teachers and educational support staff continue to serve as our heroes on the front lines. They have always put our children and the community first,” Fusco said in the release. “While educators and staff deserve much more funding from Tallahassee, this contract settlement with Broward Schools shows some level of local recognition can be made when we work together.”

The district and teachers union on Friday announced an agreement for educational support professionals to receive a $1,500 one-time stipend, while the hourly wage for classroom assistants will rise from $11.51 to $13. Teacher assistants’ hourly rate will increase from $13.27 to $15, a news release said.

The tentative agreement will be presented to all 14,000 bargaining unit members for a vote after winter break, Fusco said, and if approved, it will then be presented to the School Board for a vote.