Protesting Salaries and Working Conditions

Seminole County Public School employees protest low salaries
March 2016

Teacher salaries across Florida are low compared to other states. We all know that Florida teachers do not earn what they are worth. Considering that teachers are paid for only a fraction of the time that they actually work on school-related tasks, the pay is ridiculously low. Teachers across the state are grading papers, responding to email, preparing lesson plans and completing a number of other mandated tasks on their personal time without pay every day.

Orange County teacher salaries rank 40th out of 66 Florida counties. The only counties that ranked lower than Orange were all smaller counties. All of the other large Florida counties, including Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough, and Palm Beach, placed among the top ten in the salary range.

The nearby Central Florida counties of Seminole, Brevard, Volusia, and Osceola all have higher salaries than Orange, which didn't even make it to the top half. OCPS teachers earn an average of $44,094.

Orange CTA teachers, staff and organizers joined hundreds of Seminole County teachers and education staff professionals to protest low salaries, reduced benefits and poor working conditions outside the School Board on March 15th. The Seminole County Public Schools union members wore red and stood near the roadway with signs. Seminole teachers requested a pay increase that would keep up with inflation. A mere 2% was offered by the district and impasse was declared.

School board members listened with expressionless faces while over a dozen employees spoke at the school board meeting to plead for fair salaries.  One teacher noted that the starting salary starts at $39,000.  The pay for school board members, a part-time job, is determined by the lowest salary on the county's teacher pay scale. However, annual teacher salary increases are minimal. A teacher who has worked for over 10 years earns barely more than the starting teachers' rate of pay.  One teacher testified that she has worked 15 years and makes only $3,000 more than a first year teacher. Seminole County school teachers earn an average of $48,071 annually.

Bus drivers spoke about poor pay and being unable to support their families. One woman who worked for Seminole County Schools stated that her adult son had to co-sign for her to rent an apartment because her salary was so low. Others spoke of working two to three jobs and still not being able to pay all of their bills.

The Seminole teachers, instructional staff, bus drivers and clerical staff members also testified about reduced benefits and poor working conditions, including large class sizes, too much administrative work, and lost planning time due to an excessive amount of meetings.

The next Seminole School Board meeting is scheduled for March 31st. Orange teachers will be supporting the Seminole employees once again.  Come out!


 

No comments:

Post a Comment