ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – The St. Johns County superintendent on Tuesday recommended the school board approve a substantial pay raise for teachers that was recently endorsed by a mediator brought in to settle an ongoing dispute between the district and the teachers union.
The two sides had been at odds over teacher raises and agreed to bring in an outside mediator after negotiations between the teachers union and the district stalled because teachers said the raise that the district was offering wasn’t enough. The district’s final offer for a pay raise was rejected by 77% of teachers last year.
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Superintendent Tim Forson told the school board Tuesday it should approve the pay raises recommended by a special magistrate even though the district’s attorney disagreed with some of the logic used in their decision.
“I’m recommending the board accept the recommendation of salary compensation, with the understanding that salary schedules may have to be reviewed and possibly adjusted to comply with the law,” Forson told the board. “I’m hoping to bring closure to the school year for our teachers with a positive contract settlement.”
One board member, attorney Patrick Canan, said he is in favor even though he also has some issues with the ruling.
“I think it doesn’t make any sense as a district and as a team, I mean, you and us working together, to try to mince words, fight over what this meant, for us to look at this and point out the problems that may exist...I think that’s a minor detail. I guess what I’m saying is I’m in favor of ratifying and agreeing with the magistrate’s decision,” Canan said.
Under the proposal backed by the magistrate, the starting teacher salary would increase by $1,142 to $48,642 and teachers rated effective and highly effective for the year would get a $1,522 and $2,029 raise, respectively.
“The District’s teachers have achieved excellent learning results and have thereby earned the pay increases they seek,” special magistrate Mark Lurie said in recommending the pay raises proposed by the St. Johns Education Association (SJEA), the district’s teachers union.
In his conclusion, the special magistrate noted that Florida is ranked near the bottom in the nation’s per-student spending for grade schools and the growth experienced by St. Johns School District and other fast-growing districts in Florida has “exacerbated the difficulties caused by that underfunding.”
“I feel strongly that over the past few years, our legislature has not been behind us. And you can see it happening. You can see the attack on the unions. But more importantly from the school district side, I remember we used to get all kinds of money from Tallahassee for capital funds for building schools...the legislature realized how fast we were growing and would give us money. That got cut off. Why?” Canan said.
The school board is expected to make the final decision on whether or not to approve the mediator’s recommendation at a later board meeting.
