Session #4

 

In our fourth bargaining session on Monday, October 27th, the employer responded to PEA's proposals. 

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• In response to our 2.5% wage increase for all ESPs, Paras, and Teachers, the district countered with only a 1% increase.

• In response to our language proposal regarding parental leave, they countered with a caveat that no employee would be eligible until they have been employed for a year.

• In response to our sick leave buyback, the employer countered with eligibility limited to those with 25 days in reserve, plus, an attendance eligibility for buyback (if a teacher is uses 0 sick days for the year, they can buy back up to 10 days, leaving 25 in reserve; if they use 1 day within the school year, they will only be eligible to buy back 7 days, and if they use two days, they will be eligible to buy back 5), all at 80% of their value, per state statute.

• In response to students removed for extreme behavior not being returned to the classroom for the day, they rejected the proposal and presented a counter deleting the PEA addition and adding student removal/placement review language from statute.

• In response to quarterly, anonymous feedback, they rejected the proposal.

• In response to employees controlling their thermostats, they rejected the proposal.

• In response to supervisors and admin subbing 1 day each quarter, they rejected the proposal.

 

Perhaps the most disheartening moment of the evening came when the district stated that they build their budget based solely on current costs and any raises are only considered when they "have budgeted for every expense...and there are funds left over." 

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You can view the entire bargaining session on our YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/live/kQLMnNRtkKI

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The next bargaining session will be on Wednesday, November 19th.  PEA will respond to the district.  Please be on the lookout for communications from PEA asking for your opinion.

 

Session 3#:
In our third bargaining session on Wednesday, October 1st, the employer presented a counter.  Their counter included the TSIA money for teachers with 2+ years of experience (as detailed in session #1 notes), in addition to 15 paid days of parental leave within 30 days of birth or adoption and 1 additional paid personal day for every employee ONLY for the 2025-2026 school year.  Their proposal, again, did not include any raise for any para, ESP, or teachers within their first 2 years.

PEA REJECTED that offer and presented out own counterproposal:

• 2.5% raise for EVERY employee in our bargaining unit (every teacher, para, and ESP)

• 15 paid days of parental leave within the first year of birth or adoption

• sick leave buyback of up to 10 days each year (must leave 10 days in reserve)

• students removed from the classroom for egregious behavior cannot be brought back same day

• quarterly, anonymous feedback for all administrators/supervisors from our covered employees

• thermostat temperatures under the control of the classroom teacher/instructional staff

• every district-wide supervisor will sub 1 day each quarter in a classroom-based position
  
  The district said they would review our proposal and provide a response during the next bargaining session (date TBD).

Session 2#:
In our second bargaining session on Tuesday, September 23rd, the district rejected our 5% across the board and reiterated their first offer of just the TSIA money (see details below from session 1).

PEA rejected this offer and reiterated our proposal of 5% across the board. 

PEA is surveying the bargaining unit ahead of session 3. Please check your work emails for the survey link (must be logged in to your PCPS email account to respond). 

Join us or tune in for our next bargaining session (#3) on Wednesday, October 1st at 4:30 pm at the Jim Miles Professional Development Center, located at5204 Bartow Rd. Lakeland, FL  33812.

Session 1#:
At our first bargaining session of the year on September 16th, the employer (PCPS) spent the first one hour and ten minutes explaining their budget shortfalls and the very low fund balance that they ended with in the last fiscal year. If you would like to watch their explanation, please use this link to view the entire session (they went first): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-lzHuG3Ib8 

Ultimately, their proposal was to distribute the TSIA money (roughly $3.4 million) to those employees who are eligible, ratifying, and then coming back at a later date to discuss any potential raises for other employees.

Here is a little more clarity on what this money is and how it can be spent:

The TSIA (Teacher Salary Increase Allocation) are funds specifically from the state which have guidelines on how they can be spent and on who.  For this year, this money can only be given to those who fall under the teacher contract with at least 2 full years of teaching experience.  That means that, if distributed equally, about 5195 of our bargaining unit members would receive a raise of roughly $45/month BEFORE taxes, leaving our other 1230 teachers, 1490 Paraeducators, and 517 Educational Support Personnel covered under PEA CBAs without a raise, at least for now.

PEA also brought a proposal.  Seeing that the district did not spend $50.3 million of the money budgeted for our salaries and benefits last year (due to unfilled positions,  people leaving, and hiring of employees that were not entitled to a raise), and this year, are expected to spend roughly $14 million less than they have budgeted for salaries and benefits, PEA proposed a 5% raise across the board…a 5% raise for every teacher, para, and ESP covered under our contracts, despite their years of service or current salary levels, including those new to the district last year who did not qualify for a raise.  This raise would cost an estimated $25 million to implement, money that the employer should have left over from last year when they did not have to spend it–again, due to fewer employees and those who were not eligible.