As this school year ends, the Osceola County School Board and the Osceola County Education Association, the county’s teacher union, have collaboratively bargained and agreed on a tentative compensation package for the 2022-23 school year that includes $8 million in compensation incentives.
The final product n ow goes back to each side for ratification.
Among the salary increases and benefits for the 2022-2023 school year:
A first-year instructional employees’ minimum base salary of $48,500 (an increase of $1,000);
A salary increase of $1,650 for teachers rated “highly effective” and $1,200 for those rated “effective”, and a $1,500 Specialist Supplement for all fulltime ESOL Program Specialist and Compliance Specialist employees;
A one-time bonus of $50 per year of service for those with at least 10 years of tenure;
No changes to the District’s major medical insurance plan, and a Flexible Spending Account Match with a contribution to assist toward employees deductible.
“I speak on behalf of our School Board members when I say we remain optimistic that we will be able to collaborate with OCEA in order to get these dollars into the hands of our dedicated educators as soon as a tentative agreement is ratified by both parties,” Superintendent Dr. Debra Pace said in a district release.
OCEA President Lare Allen said the tentative agreement moves the two sides “closer to the middle.”
“It’s a sense (the district) is trying to get them something for being committed to Osceola County,” he said. “Of course I think they can do more, we think there’s more money, but we’re grateful because we’ve gotten more than what was received in the last couple years. So I really don’t have a lot to complain about.”
Allen now turns his attention to the ranks of Education Support Professionals (ESP), and getting them a one-time bonus supplement as well.
“When they put in the $15 minimum salary (in February, starting July 1 for all employees), that took care of a lot of people,” he said. “But now there’s a compression problem; an employee who is 10 or 15 years in isn’t very much ahead of that first-year, starting out employee. And it doesn’t address, for instance, a 15-year paraprofessional who takes a clerical job.”
While the starting salary is the highest it’s been in the last three years, Allen said, there are still discouraging reasons that there are almost 600 open positions advertised for instructional, noninstructional and ESP in Osceola County.
“Every time we find out how to take care of our veteran teachers at the local level, they find a way to undo it at the state level,” he said. “I wish our School Board members and Dr. Pace would be more vocal about that. That’s why we have not just a state-wide teacher shortage issue but a nationwide problem. I can understand why people would be hesitant to come into this field.”
