Hillsborough teachers may finally get promised pay raise
TAMPA (FOX 13) - For months, Hillsborough County teachers have been protesting on the sidewalks, demanding a pay raise they say they were promised but never given.
District leaders claimed they didn't have the money but there's new hope that a district reorganization plan could finally put that money into teachers' paychecks.
Amanda Linton moved to Hillsborough County from Mississippi to pursue her passion for teaching.
"I trusted in the expectation that if I forewent a raise for three years, I would finally earn a substantial step," Linton said at Tuesday's School Board meeting.
But that raise never came.
"Next year, I will be a fifth-year teacher earning $38,000 a year, the same salary a brand new graduate earns," Linton said.
She's not alone.
"Ultimately, you're facing a workforce that doesn't trust you," said teacher Melissa Brown. "I think you know that and I think you know what you need to do to fix it."
An agreement negotiated in 2013 was set to give Hillsborough County teachers a $4,000 raise after their third year of service. Roughly 5,000 teachers are eligible each year but last year, the district said the money wasn't there, setting off months of protests.
Tuesday, Superintendent Jeff Eakins announced he had a plan.
"We know that we have to create the dollars within our own budget and that's what I'm committed to as a superintendent," Eakins said. "To make sure our employees get raises next year and our students get what they deserve in their classrooms to meet their needs."
The plan known as Transforming for the Future includes the elimination of 838 positions:
- 13 in district administration
- 15 in school administration
- 229 support staff
- 581 instructional positions.
Eakins promised there would be no layoffs. Rather, it would be done through consolidation, attrition, and non-renewal of temporary positions.
"We know every year we have about 1,000 employees that will not be returning to us through natural means of attrition, either through retirement, resigning, moving to other locations, so we were very strategic as we went into this planning process to make sure all our current permanent employees had jobs next year."
The board voted unanimously in favor of the plan.
"The public needs to see that we are stable, and we are frugal, and we are fiscally responsible," said board member Lynn Gray. "Under no circumstances will there be a pay increase, as you said, for those individuals involved in this restructure until teacher and support pay increases are rectified. That is critical."
The Executive Director of Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins remains cautious.
She said, "I'll believe it when I see it. I think again, we are on our third reorganization and while I want this district to succeed, I think the continual rearranging of the deck chairs takes a mental toll on everyone in the district and doesn't add to the feeling of sort of calm and trust that would benefit all of us."
Superintendent Eakins said this reorganization plan saves over $30 million in the general revenue budget. It's set to take place July 1. The district and the teachers' union head back to the negotiating table next week in hopes of reaching an agreement on teachers' salaries.