TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced an additional $200 million will head towards schools for teacher salary increases. In a release, the Office of the Governor touted great strides for starting teacher pay, but left others wondering if experienced, veteran teachers would see a piece of the pie.

What You Need To Know

  •  Of the $200 million, Orange County Public School will receive $14 million, according to a spokesperson

  •  In anticipation of the funding, OCPS and the local union negotiated historic raises resulting in an average 9 percent salary increase for teachers

  •  However, across the state, Florida schools still rank #50 in average teacher salary according to the National Education Association

Wage compression, where experienced employee wages don’t rise at the same rate as their newer counterparts, has been an ongoing battle in schools across the state. 

John Payne-Rios, an educator with Orange County Public Schools, says it’s not unheard of for even the most experienced teachers to have a second job.

“All teachers, in various ways, we all have some sort of supplemental income,” said Payne-Rios, Technical Theatre Director at Howard Middle School.

This past school year, the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association worked to address wage compression by negotiating percentage increases for staff, instead of flat rate increases.

However, data from the National Education Association shows that there are still pay discrepancies in school districts across the state. According to data, while Florida ranks #16 in starting teacher salary, the state ranks dead last in average teacher salary.

“Even though you’re investing all this money, we are still at the bottom of the barrel, and our children do not deserve that,” said Payne-Rios.

State officials have formerly put stipulations in place when it comes to salary funding, giving priority to increasing starting teacher pay. For example, in the 2020-2021 school year, while $500 million had gone to increasing salaries, 80 percent was required to go towards increasing minimum/starting salaries for schools who had not reached a base salary threshold of $47,500.

Starting teacher salary has played a crucial role for districts hoping to recruit staff during a teacher shortage. Schools have continued to struggle to recruit new employees, with data showing there were 7,553 staff vacancies across Florida schools back in January. The latest announcement from Gov. DeSantis builds on salary increases since the governor took office, increasing starting teacher salaries from roughly $40,000 a year, to roughly $48,000 a year.

However, officials with the Florida Education Association say experienced teachers have been left behind.

“A teacher with 25 years of experience in a county in Florida in 2010 was paid $60,000. In that same county, this year a teacher with 25 years of experience was paid $58,000,” said Andrew Spar, President of the Florida Education Association.

As for this round of funding, state officials seem to have lessened restrictions on the use of funds since the 2020-2021 school year. Each school district will need to use 1.07 percent of the funding towards increasing base salary to $47,500, unless the district has already met that threshold.

Officials with OCPS say they’ve already met a base salary requirement of $47,500, currently offering $49,375. District officials say they will therefore be able to use their allocated funding towards all staff.

“I have faith that OCPS is going to try to keep us teachers as happy as they can,” said Payne-Rios.

Meanwhile, officials with the Florida Education Association say there are over 20 state laws which penalize teachers with more than 10 years of experience.

Spectrum News reached out to the Office of Governor Ron DeSantis in reference to this claim and as of publication, we did not hear back.

Celeste Springer is an education beat reporter for Spectrum News 13. If you have a story idea or concern, you can email her at celeste.springer@charter.com.