After months of negotiating teacher contracts, the Bay District Schools and the Association of Bay County Educators (ABCE) teacher’s union are back at the negotiating table on Sep. 18, 2018.
On the agenda….teacher salaries. The ABCE proposed a $5 million a year raise within a two-year package that includes a cost of living increase.
“That’s almost double what has been done in the past, so that’s a pretty significant request on their part. We love our teacher’s they certainly deserve a pay raise but this is a very tight budget year. Our overall budget increased 47 cents a student,” said Sharon Michalik, the public information officer for Bay District Schools.
Alexis Underwood the ABCE president said the district has the money to give teachers this pay raise. “So we’ve done our research and we tore their budget apart and we believe that we can show them that we have the money to give us this. And if they really want to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers in Bay County they’ll pay us like we want to be paid.”
The Bay District School will bring the request to the school board on Sep. 25, 2018.
While the money is still being negotiated…2 agreements were made. One was cutting back on the amount of professional learning communities (PLC) which are like planning periods, teachers are required to be in. This will allow them more time to spend with students.
Also, teachers will be able to use their one paid bereavement day for the death of a sibling. Until now, paid bereavement was only allowed for parents, spouses, and children.
Both Bay District Schools and the ABCE will meet again on Oct. 3, 2018, to continue negotiating teacher salaries.
