- April 19, 2024
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After a contentious year that included teachers marching with picket signs and chanting outside of School Board meetings, contract negotiations have ended for the next few years. The School Board announced July 21 that it has reached agreement with negotiators for the Volusia Teachers Organization in a two-year deal.
During the talks, an impasse was declared and the VTO filed a lawsuit, but all of the disputes will be resolved if the union membership ratifies the contract.
The School Board also reached agreement with Volusia Educational Support Association, clerical workers, and Volusia Educational Support Association, who are paraprofessionals.
The big sticking point was the amount the School Board paid toward insurance premiums, and the School Board and unions were finally able to reach a compromise of $531 per month. The School Board had offered $500 throughout the year. Employees are able to choose plans with higher premiums, and will receive the $531 subsidy.
“This deal achieves our goal of reigning in our health insurance costs while providing deserving raises to our hard working employees,” said Superintendent Tom Russell.
He called it a wonderful start to the upcoming school year.
Andrew Spar, president of the VTO, who led the protests throughout the past year, expressed satisfaction with the agreement.
“We appreciate the hard work of everyone involved,” he said. “We believe this is a fair compromise and gives employees several options to keep good medical coverage while benefiting from a decent pay increase.”
For teachers, the deal calls for increasing beginning teacher pay by $1,000, and average teacher raises of 4.25% for the 2016-2017 school year and 2.5% for the 2017-2018 school year.
For VESA and AFSCME, the deal calls for average raises of 6.25% for the 2016-2017 school year and 2.5% for the 2017-2018 school year.
Returning teachers get a $500 bonus and returning VESA and AFSCME workers get $300.
No raises would be awarded for the 2015-2016 school year.
There are additional, smaller, raises for the VESA and AFSCME employees depending on their job level.
Employees will now schedule a vote to ratify the agreement in the near future. The teacher work year begins Aug. 9 and students return Aug. 15.
Florida Power and Light will be performing routine tree trimming maintenance along rights-of-way over the next several weeks. The affected streets are: Benton Street, Durrance Lane, Flagler Road, Gowers Street, Hull Road, North Tymber Creek Road, Pineland Trail, Portland Street, Rosemary Street and Southland Road. Call FPL at 866-274-9098.
