With a lot of fanfare Governor Rick Scott said he wanted to raise teacher salaries in Florida. After much hemming and hawing and threats to veto other legislation the Florida legislature eventually budgeted 480 million dollars for what they said would be teacher raises.
I asked before if the money was going to be a bonus or an actual raise. The governor and legislature have I believe been purposely vague on this point. A raise would require an annual 480 million dollar commitment and seeing their penchant for cutting education in non-election years I am not optimistic that will be the case. Neither is superintendent Vitti.
From the Folio: The superintendent also points to his commitment to issuing salary-step raises in his upcoming budget, as well as distributing Gov. Rick Scott’s appropriation for teacher raises as “bonuses” in Duval County.
“That’s nonrecurring,” he said of Scott’s teacher-raise money, noting that it cannot
be counted upon in future years because of what he calls the “whimsical” nature of the Florida Legislature.
be counted upon in future years because of what he calls the “whimsical” nature of the Florida Legislature.
Whimsical is definitely one way to put it.
Every little bit helps but teachers are still smarting from the 3% pay cut they took two years ago, money they will never be able to reclaim.
