News

This week, HCTA and District bargaining teams reached tentative agreement on Instructional salaries for 2020-21. The agreement combines the state’s Teacher Salary Increase Allocation (TSIA) with additional Board dollars to offer:

• $46,120 minimum salary (impacting 48% of all instructional salaries)
• Additional funds provided by the Board to ensure ALL instructional remain on the same salary schedule
• At LEAST a 2% improvement to every teacher’s base salary
• Salary improvements will be retroactive to July 1, 2020
• Adjusted instructional placement schedule to ensure new hires with experience are not placed at higher salary levels than current employees with equal or greater experience

The settlement concludes a months long bargaining conversation complicated by scarcity of district funds and the statutory requirements of the TSIA. Challenges associated with the TSIA funds include:

• Creation of salary compression in raising the minimum base salary
• Requirements and funding for minimum base salary applying only to full-time classroom teachers, leaving out other instructional staff like School Counselors and Instructional Coaches

As other districts’ distribution plans were rejected by the FLDOE for failure to comply with statute, it became apparent that HCTA’s efforts to minimize salary compression with a ‘banded’ approach to distribution may have resulted in the state withholding funds. In absence of significant additional District funds, resolving the issue of compression became unlikely.

As a result, the bargaining team presented a proposal that sought to address our other two primary goals: maintain a single salary schedule for all instructional employees and ensure that salary improvements help offset insurance increases. The additional Board dollars included in the final agreement addressed these priorities. Ultimately, HCTA was able to improve upon the District’s initial salary improvement offer of a flat $668 minimum increase to a full 2% while also ensuring that non-classroom teachers would not be left behind on a lower salary schedule. The adjusted instructional placement schedule will ensure that new hires will not come into the District at a higher pay level than current employees with the same years of experience.

It is worth noting that the HCTA proposal also sought a significant increase ($45/month/member) in the Board’s health insurance contribution. As the benefits offered to instructional staff cannot differ from the benefits offered to other employees, the increased contribution would have required an additional $1.5 million from the Board. Citing the uncertainty of current year funding due to lower than expected student enrollment, the District was unable to commit to the additional dollars needed.

The teams also discussed the impact of the recently approved millage increase. The increase will take effect in the 2021 property tax rolls, with these new local dollars available for bargaining in the 2021-22 school year. The District acknowledged at the table the Superintendent and Board’s intent for the majority of funds raised for staff salaries to be applied to instructional salaries. The parties will continue meeting in the months ahead to plan for the distribution of referendum dollars.

Late last week, HCTA and District bargaining teams met to discuss the Teacher Salary Increase Allocation. This pool of funds provided as a categorical in the state budget has prescribed application outlined in FL statute. To better understand the challenges we face in bargaining salary improvements, you are encouraged to visit the HTCA website to familiarize yourself with the Teacher Salary Increase Allocation (TSA).

As of Friday evening, both teams had shared initial proposals. A walk-through of the District’s proposal presented on Friday is provided here for your review:

Since the Teacher Salary Increase Allocation is tied to full time classroom teachers as defined in statute, non-classroom teachers do not qualify for 80% of the TSA funds. For the purpose of categorizing full-time classroom teachers, the District identified instructional staff who carry a roster of students and provide instruction for more than half of the workday.

Though HCTA’s team had previously shared what was believed to be a reasonable proposal which would have distributed the larger portion of TSA funds in a banded approach and produced a more equitable distribution of dollars across the salary roster, the District expressed concern that a banded approach could be rejected during audit and may result in TSA dollars being reclaimed by the state some time down the road.

HCTA does not believe that the law prohibits bargaining of a banded approach. Distributing 80% of the TSA funds in bands could not only raise the minimum base salary to a competitive level ($45,000), it could ensure that a significant number of teachers actually reach the statutory goal of $47,500 this year.

As we apprach the return of Hernando students to our schools in the weeks ahead, our message to the decision makers remains unchanged: The safety of our students and staff MUST come first!  Teachers are bracing for a year expected to look like no other. We need the full support of leaders and the larger community to ensure the safe reopening of our schools.