Brevard teachers hold rally for higher pay as board meets

VIERA, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Tensions have been rising for over five months between teachers and administrators at the Brevard County Public Schools. Talks over a pay raise for educators has reached an impasse.

A group of teachers on Tuesday rallied for higher pay outside of the school board meeting.  The teachers wore red. as in "Red for Ed." They got to the school systems main office during the 4 o’clock hour and remained while the meeting was in progress, with some going into the meeting to be seen by school leaders.  Under the law, the teachers cannot strike, so they said this is the way to make their voices heard.

“They’ve only agreed to four of our proposals. They’ve given us very few counter proposals, and we’re nowhere close on the money situation," said Anthony Colucci, President Brevard Federation of Teachers. "We hope that we get the board’s attention, that we open up their eyes, that they hear the frustrations of our teachers, and they offer us a competitive raise and they consider our contract language.”

“The problem in Brevard and in a lot of school districts is that the revenue that we made that would go towards teachers raises, went to school security -- mainly after the Parkland situation --  and with what we have left, we’re trying to make it go as far as we can," said Matt Reed, Assistant Superintendent for Brevard School District.

The next step in this process is having both sides make their cases in front of a magistrate; however, there is no timeframe.  In the meantime,  there are nearly 80 open instructional jobs in the county school system.