ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando County Public Schools announced Wednesday that it has a new offer for teachers bargaining for a better pay raise — higher salary increases with no bonuses.

Though the teachers union said many of the problems with the original offer are still there.

• OCPS offers new deal to Orange County teachers on pay raise
• Teachers have not yet indicated whether they'll accept the deal
• PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
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  • Orange County Teachers, District Continue to Spar Over Pay
  • Teacher Salaries Remain Uncertain as Orange Public Schools Approve New Budget
  • Orange County Teachers Tell Lawmakers They Want Livable Wage

The district presented the new offer to the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association (CTA) Wednesday.

Just a couple of weeks ago, negotiators for Orange County Public Schools offered bigger bonuses, but not higher salaries. Now, school board members have taken the bonuses away but are offering higher salary increases.

The new deal would give “effective” teachers a $2,400 raise, and “highly effective” teachers would get a $3,000 raise.

The district’s previous proposal called for a $1,625 raise for teachers rated “effective,” and a $2,025 raise for teachers rated “highly effective.”

More than 80 percent of Orange County’s teachers are rated highly effective.

OCPS Chief Communications Officer Scott Howat says it’s the highest raise of any school district in Central Florida.

He says they weren’t able to accomplish this with any hidden pot of money — it’s money which would’ve gone towards bonuses.

“We heard the teachers loud and clear. They didn’t want bonuses, they wanted salary. So the board came back and said, ‘Let’s take the non-recurring bonus, we’ll put it into salary.’”

Teachers Union Reacts

CTA President Wendy Doromal says it’s progress.

“You can’t get a mortgage with a bonus, you can’t get a car loan with a bonus -- you have to have a salary,” she said.

But the district’s proposal says although teachers will get the raise upfront in the first year, it’s meant for the next two years.

“Because there’s no guarantee they would give us a raise the second year. It would be virtually less than what they offered originally," Doromal said.

There’s still a concern about the rise in health insurance costs for teachers. Now, the district is offering to keep the insurance costs the same till February, at which point they will again go up. At that point, their health insurance premiums will increase, which Doromal said is a big reason why teachers voted down the district's original deal.

While the district hopes they can settle on their proposal, Doromal says there’s plenty of bargaining left to do. There are two more bargaining sessions in November, and she says they’re requesting even more.