Orange County offers plan to raise teacher salary

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - The Orange County Public School District and the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association are back in negotiations over teacher salaries.

The district is offering a higher deal, on Wednesday proposing an average six percent salary raise for teachers.

“It’s more salary committed over the long run,” said Scott Howat, OCPS Chief Communications Officer. “We heard the teachers loud and clear, they didn’t want bonuses, they wanted salary, so the board came back and said let’s take the non-recurring bonus, we’ll put it into salary and we’ll commit to the additional two percent upfront.”

Teachers rated “highly effective” will receive a $3,000 annual raise, $1,000 more than the previous offer. Teachers rated “effective” will receive a $2,400 raise, $800 more. A concern of teachers was also rising insurance costs. The district now offering to cover half the cost of insurance increases for the first year.

“We think this goes a long way to retention, to letting our teachers know we care about them, that’s why we’re front-loading this money, we know that they don’t like bonuses, this gives them that commitment right now,” said Howat.

Also, in the deal, if the State allocates more money to the District next year, negotiations would be reopened.

“There’s an insurance policy of a reopener that if there is more money available, that we’ll reopen and move forward, I think this is a win-win for everybody,” said Howat.

The Teachers Association has yet to accept the offer. We’ll keep you updated.