Tentative Agreement Reached
On August 9, 2023, the Broward Teachers Union Education Professionals (BTU-EP) and Broward County Public Schools reached two tentative agreements:
- The MOU regarding for the 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026, and 2026-2027 School Years.
- The MOU regarding .
A ratification vote will take place on August 18, 2023. All bargaining unit members are eligible to vote, regardless of union membership.
: Salary increases for the 2023-24 School Year are still being negotiated.
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(Regarding Referendum distributions for the 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026, and 2026-2027 School Years)
For the 2023-24 school year through the 2026-27 school year, referendum supplements will range from at least $500 for teachers in their first year of teaching, to $12,000 for educators with 15 or more years of experience, as follows:
- 0 years: $500
- 1-2 years: $2,000
- 3-5 years: $3,000
- 6-7 years: $5,500
- 8-9 years: $6,000
- 10 years: $7,500
- 11-14 years: $10,000
- 15+ years: $12,000
- Levels RF, S, T, U: $10,000
If the School Board collects additional referendum funds than those required to fund the above supplements, the parties will agree on the distribution of said additional funds to employees in the BTU-EP unit.
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The parties agreed to:
- $2,500 supplement for each SLP.
- An additional $5,500 supplement for those with their certification credentials.
The Master's degree supplement for SLP will remain at $3,650.
View Tentative Agreements MOUs
Ratification voting will take place at work sites on August 18, 2023.
The second session of contract negotiations between the BTU Education Professionals and the Broward County School District was held at Broward Teachers Union on July 20th. The following issues were discussed.
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The District Proposed a distribution giving teachers new to Broward a $1000 supplement with everyone else receiving amounts ranging from $2000 to $11,250.
BTU rejected the District's proposal.
BTU offered a counter-proposal that would award supplements beginning with teachers who had at least one year experience in Broward of $2000 with every one else receiving up to $12,000 depending upon their number of years of experience.
The District rejected BTU's counter-proposal, but then the two sides collaborated to establish a distribution in which new teachers will receive a supplement of $500 and all others will receive supplements equal to or higher than last year with the amounts ranging from $2000 to $12,000 depending upon their number of years of experience.
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The District did not have a proposal prepared to counter BTU's June 12th proposal of an overall increase of 7% to base salary. They promised to bring one to the next session.
Subsequent discussion at the July 25th School Board Workshop, initiated by Dr. Allen Zeman, focused on a false narrative to increase teacher base salaries. They then clarified that it was total compensation before pivoting to focus on "average salaries". They included supplements and incentives to to determine this average. During discussion, it came to light in comments made by Deputy Superintendent Judy Marte that the total compensation included Referendum funds, the distribution of which had previously determined in negotiations. The School Board voted this proposal down.
Also included at this Workshop was a directive to the Insurance Committee pushing to initiate employee contributions to their own health care of $15 - $135 per month dependent upon their income level in addition to increasing copays and deductibles significantly. At the July 26th meeting, the Insurance Committee, led by objections by the Broward Teachers Union, voted these changes down.
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The District recognized that there is a shortage of Speech-Language Professionals and said they want to recruit and retain accredited professionals.
BTU Previously Proposed:
- $4000 supplement for each SLP.
- $8000 supplement for each SLP for their certification credentials.
The District Counter Proposed:
- $2000 supplement for each SLP.
- $5500 supplement for each SLP for their certification credentials.
BTU Rejected this proposal, sticking with its previous proposal.
The next session is scheduled for August 9th at BTU.
The District did not provide the anticipated amount of referendum funds that will be available.
BTU Proposed:
- Keep the current "bands" of 1-5 years, 6-10 years and 11+ years of experience.
- Negotiate amounts for all years after anticipated funding is shared by District.
BTU Proposed:
- An overall increase of 7% for the Education Professionals contract.
The District recognized that there is a shortage of Speech-Language Professionals and said they want to recruit and retain accredited professionals.
The District Proposed:
- $2000 supplement for each SLP.
- $3500 supplement for each SLP for their certification credentials.
BTU Counter Proposed:
- $4000 supplement for each SLP.
- $8000 supplement for each SLP for their certification credentials.
It is important to note that the District recently signed a contract with an outside agency to provide SLPs to meet the shortage at the cost of $100,800 per SLP provided.
The next session, originally scheduled for Tuesday, June 27th was cancelled by the District. It will now be held Thursday, July 20th @ BTU.
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