Negotiations stall

By now, school district employees across Florida are probably tired of hearing that things are tough all over, and how they should just be glad to have a job.

That doesn't change the way that school districts are reacting to the most severe economic slump in decades, though.

The Orlando Sentinel reports today that just 13 of 67 districts have settled salary concerns this year, mostly because district officials aren't able to find money for raises while also keeping programs afloat. Most of the districts that have reached agreements gave small raises that mostly covered rising insurance costs, the paper notes.

"This is by far the most difficult year I've seen," said Max Schmidt of the Florida School Labor Relations Service, who has worked in Florida more than 30 years.

How bad is it?

Miami-Dade has delayed its talk of raises before a special magistrate amid increasing budget concerns, the Miami Herald reports. The Lee School Board approves 3 percent raises for all employees except administrators, but only after laying off hundreds, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

Closer to home, Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando have yet to seal deals, while Hillsborough has paid raises but also increased the working hours of many teachers along with the extra cash.

Teacher groups contend there's money available if there's also political will to make employees a top priority. But administrators and board members counter that they're doing what they can, and that things really are tough all over.

And, like it or not, the boards - not the unions, the administrators, the magistrates or anyone else - have the final say. Stay tuned.

Comments

[not $20 a week]

For the people at the low end of the pay scale, the ones making the biggest gains in proficiency, the ones who most need a pay bump, the annual increment is less than $14/week.

Be afraid, be very afraid.
What's going to happen when these new teachers, the future of education, decide to follow the advice of all the anti-education bloggers who say "if you don't like it, quit, 'cause we're going to keep treating you like crap and not paying you squat"? Who will teach the children then?
What's going to happen when your child's teacher says "no thank you, I'm not required to write you a letter of recommendation for your college application"? Who will you cry to when your child doesn't get into Harvard, or even UF/FSU/USF/UCF, because they don't have these letters?

But that's OK, none of that matters to most of you, or at least 53% of you, "it ain't broke, we're headed in the right direction". As ye sow, so shall ye reap.

[mom]

Problem is the teachers are the whistle blowers and we taxpayers don't want to listen about where money is being wasted.

I guess the taxpayer deserves to be raked over the coals....we will be with Pasco becoming 10th in admin. spending when it was once 4th.

The money isn't being wasted in the classroom nor on the deserving students. It's spent on administrative salaries. The Sptimes posted the salaries a few months ago and I was appalled at how many at the District made over 60K.

And we are being stingy with a meager $20 per week step to teachers? Wow taxpayers' priorities are so off that I guess the deserved to be raked.

I would suggest preventing raises for any one making over 60 K and giving a the meager $20 per week to the rest.

HF has been successful at getting the county to be an A on the backs of the unappreciated teachers.

As a parent, because of declining morale, I am really concerned about next year.
But I also realize that the teacher is the one person with whom my child is in contact with and deserves the money, not the District heavyweights.

[Concernedtaxpayer]

I hope you don't misidentify a 3 point spread for a mandate! don't get drunk on your victory. With victory comes responsibility. We'll see where this goes

[Pasco teacher]

Wow, Mr. Connolly, maybe I should take back all the times I commended you for remaining civilized and professional with your blog posts even as you spoke passionately about your beliefs!?!?!?

And unless you were standing alongside every voter, at every precinct, watching them cast their vote, I'm not sure how you can say not many teachers voted for her. ("Not going to get many votes from teachers" was your actual comment.) Maybe you can second guess about some of the teachers on this blog or at your school who "told" you they were voting a different way, but once they're in the booth it's certainly anybody's guessing game - even yours! I know MANY teachers in my acquaintance who seemed to SUPPORT HF, but I won't assume to "know" who voted what way when it actually came down to marking the ballot.

[Pat Connolly]

Teacher @9:10 (I hope not given the poor quality of your writing),
Yes, I think for much more than a second that HF realized that she wasn't going to get many votes from teachers, given her history over the past four years. Thus, her political strategy was to demonize the teachers in the eyes of the public and position herself as "Protector against the evil union". (This plays well in Pasco since so many of our retirees forget that it was their unions which got them their nice retirements.) So, no I don't think that HF tried to do anything, let alone "everything possible", to find the money to honor the contract.

[terminator]

balderdash, they've got plenty of money to waste on bureaucratic pork.
teacher:
this was a concerted effort by the FSBA and local districts to deny employee raises and conveniently blame it on the legislature. they actually held a meeting last spring and outlined the "financial urgency" statute as a way to avoid their obligations to the teachers and employee unions.
off with their heads I say!
session is going to be a b***h for these guys.
have you ever seen Texas chainsaw massacre?

[Teacher]

No Public Ed - those 13 districts probably settled at the cost of position cuts in certain areas such as art, music, p.e., media, etc. or bargained with insurance costs that probably fell back on their employees.

Isn't it interesting that 54 counties in this state have yet to settle negotiations, yet our union with all its propaganda acts like it's just Pasco that is "stalling." Look at the numbers people. I'd say we are right there with the majority and fortunately have not sacrificed positions, jobs, and our insurance benefits to "settle."

What I don't get from you HF bashers is that do you think that for a second someone who could have awoken tomorrow without a job would not have done everything possible, to give raises/step increases if it were truly a possibility?!?!?!? (And please don't start the whole LFS crap - a program chosen to meet a required mandate. If it wasn't LFS it would have been some other program chosen to meet the District’s corrective action plan that is required for compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act.)

[PublicEd]

Those Districts that have found the money for raises in their budgets have Superintendents that put their employees as a priority in their district's budget!