ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — This week teachers ratified their contract, moving forward with what Orange County Public Schools has called historic raises in salary. But the celebration was short-lived, as rumors swirled the increases will result in positions being eliminated.

What You Need To Know

  • School district officials say they do not anticipate any layoffs

  • While some teachers may be assigned a different school, officials say this is standard procedure and is due to enrollment numbers

  • Officials say some teachers temporarily hired for COVID learning loss may enter other classroom positions, but this is due to ESSER funds running out

"We can't believe teachers are being told this," wrote Orange County Classroom Teachers Association (CTA) President Clinton McCracken in a statement Tuesday.

According to the CTA, which is the local teachers union, the group has received multiple calls and emails from teachers expressing concern that their new salaries will result in the loss of jobs. McCracken says they believe the information is coming from local principals.

"These principals seem to have forgotten they received a 9% increase to their salary line item," wrote the union's Facebook page.

On Monday night, district officials say they sent a memo to staff to clear up information on the budgeting process.

School district leaders say they are trying to combat what they call outright misinformation.

"Certainly the historic raises we offered teachers this year are not an impact on their job security or their jobs," said Scott Howat, Chief Communications Officer at OCPS.

While some teachers may experience some changes next year, the district says they will not be in the form of layoffs, nor any changes due to salary increases.

District officials say some teachers may be assigned a different school, however they say this is a standard procedure called leveling, which is associated with student head counts.

"If they don't have enough students to match the number of enrollment that they had in the prior year, there may be an opportunity where they have to un-assign or non-reappoint a teacher," said Howat.

There may be some other changes, but district officials say these are due to ESSER funds running out. During the pandemic, several temporary positions were created to combat learning loss. Howat says some teachers holding these pandemic-era positions may be moved into other jobs in the classroom. However, any way you slice it, they say staff will have a position made available to them.

"Teachers are not going anywhere. We need our teachers, and certainly maybe not at the school they were serving, but definitely we need them at another school," said Howat.

According to the district, staff will be notified of potential school location changes this month, with official placement coming by May 1.