Teachers and school-related personnel would see raises averaging just more than 2 percent if the contract is approved.
By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published August 15, 2003
LAND O'LAKES - Pasco County School District employees will be asked to approve a contract proposal this month that allows for slight pay increases this year.
Union officials and school leaders apologetically unveiled a tentative collective bargaining agreement Thursday that provides for about $7.1-million in salary and benefit increases compared with last year.
"It was nothing compared to what we've been able to do in the past when we had adequate funding from the state," said Lynne Webb, president of the United School Employees of Pasco, the union representing local teachers and school workers.
Under the plan:
The district's almost 4,000 teachers would see increases averaging slightly more than 2 percent, including step increases - small, annual raises based on experience and educational credentials. Those step raises range from $100 for first-year teachers to $1,600 for those going to the top of the pay scale, Webb said. Most are in the $870 to $1,000 range, she said.
The starting salary for a new Pasco County teacher would increase $100 to $31,100.
The district's almost 3,000 school-related personnel would get raises averaging a little more than 2 percent, with some of the smallest adjustments coming in at just 19 cents more per hour.
Superintendent John Long said the district was able to give across-the-board increases because the School Board had already cut the budget $10.3-million to $636-million and moved to a more affordable employee insurance plan.
The earlier cuts included closing the Energy & Marine Center, increasing fees for athletics and eliminating 94 positions, including one support person in each school.
State legislators handed Pasco County the smallest per-pupil funding increase in the state, despite the fact that the district continues to grow at a rate of more than 2,000 students per year.
Long said he was pleased the district could offer its employees any increase at all, considering the bad financial times.
"I don't think there's anything better you can do for children than to have a happy teaching staff," Long said.
Unlike as in other years, the contract does not propose any employee bonuses.
"This is the best we could get," Long said.
Other than salary changes, the proposal also includes:
Sabbatical leave and job sharing opportunities for nonteaching school personnel such as teacher aides pursuing the completion of their bachelor's or master's degrees.
Language that gives bus drivers and teachers more authority to remove undisciplined students from buses or classrooms.
Strengthened provisions for teachers to use their planning periods primarily for classroom planning, not for working on school committees, for example.
Pay guidelines for a teacher who will implement a new 25-student virtual school pilot program for honors physics out of his home. The teacher would be paid $6,750 for a two-semester course or $3,375 for a one-semester course.
Webb blamed state legislators for the district's inability to reward its teachers more than the proposal suggests.
"Our teachers don't work any less than anyone in this state," she said. "What our teachers and our (school-related personnel) got, they can thank their School Board and their union, because it didn't come from their legislators."
- Rebecca Catalanello covers education in Pasco County. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6241 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6241. Her e-mail address is rcatalanello@sptimes.com
