Its been four long years since Broward teachers have had a raise.
We know money is tight and likely to be tight in the upcoming budget.
But with the increase in the local option tax last year and the much ballyhooed $25 million in savings by rearranging senior staff, teachers should now be the priority.
The Board needs to find a way to negotiate at least a 3% raise for teachers.
BTU should be ready to negotiate one or two givebacks in order to help fund raises.
No more take, take, take without serious consideration of trading fringe benefits for money.
In past years, the only thing on the table during the closed door sessions was money.
Rarely did the Board get involved in other benefits under negotiation and never once asked for a giveback.
It’s been a rough four year lesson, but by now the Board and the union should be painfully aware that the pot is not bottomless.
Yet look at BTU’s Negotiations News and you’ll see more demands for fringe benefits without a hint of givebacks.
Along with negotiated raises, the Board should be prompted to remember that the step system is a complete insult to junior teachers.
In 2006 we gave teachers a 6% raise and forced an equal division of the money between each teacher.
It worked out to $2050 per teacher.
The new Board of 2007 took that lesson to heart and teachers wound up with $1725 each.
To that effect, the Board needs to strike the step system from the contract and replace it with a flat statement of real percentage raises.
But four years (forget the $500 “bonus” last year) is long enough.
It’s time to make teachers a priority once again.
May 17, 2012 @ 20:02:03
AMEN TO THAT! On top of no raise, no step, for almost 4 years, now High School teachers are being forced to teach 6 out of 7 classes for FREE! For the past 20 years that I have been a teacher, if you taught a 6th class, you were paid an extra hour at your hourly rate. I NEVER taught a 6th class, as the money was not worth my sanity. High School teachers NEED their TWO planning periods to … get this … PLAN! You know, plan lessons, grade papers, call parents, meet within their departments, meet in PLC’s, meet for school wide prof. dev., run copies, make tests, etc. Now, we will have to give up a planning period with no compensation. UGH…
May 18, 2012 @ 06:28:19
And, why is it that school board meetings are during the day, when teachers are teaching and cannot attend? I looked online at their meeting schedule, and most are at 10 am. The meetings after 3 pm are “closed door sessions”.
May 18, 2012 @ 09:15:19
I’ve always been an advocate of starting School Board meetings at 6pm with speakers no later than 7pm. Had I been re-elected to a second term and become chair, I would have scheduled those meetings right off the bat.
Marty
May 18, 2012 @ 13:25:44
The reality is that when we did hold the meetings at night, and rotated them so that they were in different areas of the county, no one besides the “regulars” attended those meetings, anyway. The only exception was when there was a hot button issue, and I suspect those people would have come out regardless of where and when the meetings were held.
We held meetings at night for several years when I was on the board, and I don’t recall any teachers attending, other than boundary meetings, when they came to talk about boundary changes. But those meetings are always held after 5:30 pm anyway.
May 18, 2012 @ 14:11:55
Today they complain about teachers and parents not being able to attend meetings because of the time. That makes it our fault. If they don’t attend evening meetings, it becomes their fault. I do remember attending the meeting at Stoneman Douglas where the Board fired Church and Tower.