BCPS Announces 3% Raises

By Scott Travis, South Florida Sun Sentinel

Broward teachers and other school district employees will get an average 3% raise for this school year, following a School Board vote that proved far less contentious than a year ago.

The starting salary for a new teacher is now $51,402, up from $50,266 last year. The highest paid teachers will earn a base salary of $88,580, up from $86,209 last year.

Teachers hired before 2011 who are on a grandfathered salary plan will get increases of about 2.8%. Those on a pay-for-performance plan with a highly effective evaluation will get a 3.45% raise, while those with an effective rating get a 2.59% increase.

The salaries do not include stipends from a 2022 referendum that range from $500 to $12,000, nor do they include extra money teachers can earn for advanced degrees and coaching or sponsoring student clubs.

The recurring raises, which are the results of recent bargaining with the Broward Teachers Union, will be retroactive to July 1. The School Board unanimously approved the raises with little discussion Tuesday.

The School Board also approved 3% increases for principals, assistant principals and district-level employees. Other employee groups are expected to get similar raises later this month after the School Board votes on them at an upcoming meeting, officials said.

“This unified decision reflects our deep appreciation for the hard work and dedication of our employees,” School Board Chairwoman Debbi Hixon said. “Today’s School Board approval represents a significant investment of more than $31 million in employee compensation, a testament to our commitment to valuing their contributions.”

The easy approval was a stark contrast to last year, when contentious negotiations for teacher raises led to teacher protests, friction on the board and a state-ordered investigation.

At that time, board members faced lawsuits by many charter schools who alleged they had been shortchanged out of funding from a 2018 referendum. Board members didn’t know at the time how much that settlement would end up costing the district. The final agreement was about $120 million to be paid over three years.

Teachers packed School Board meetings in the fall of 2023, pleading for better pay. The majority of board members finally agreed in February 2024 to give average raises of 3.96%.

The three Republican members on the nine-member board complained that the district was using non-recurring COVID-relief money to help pay for the raises. Some employee groups were also upset that teachers got recurring raises while their employees only got one-time bonuses.

Then-Board member Torey Alston alleged improper relationships between some fellow board members and the Broward Teachers Union, allegations the union and employees denied. Alston filed a complaint with the state Board of Education, but the complaint was dropped after the School Board’s general counsel advised him he couldn’t share information learned during closed-door negotiations.

But the issue came up again in 2024 after district volunteer Nathalie Lynch-Walsh filed a complaint with the Department of Education, complaining specifically about the School Board’s use of COVID dollars to pay for teacher raises. A district-hired investigator reviewed the matter and determined the School Board’s actions were allowed.

Alston and another critic of the deal, Daniel Foganholi, were both defeated in School Board elections last year. The other board member who voted no last year, Brenda Fam, did not attend Tuesday’s meeting in person, but district spokesman John Sullivan said Fam was on the phone and voted in favor of the raises.

Although the district still faces funding challenges due to declining enrollment and the charter school payout, Superintendent Howard Hepburn said the district’s new chief financial officer was able to scrutinize the budget and find pots of money that could be used for raises.

“Our CFO and her team did amazing work over the past five to six months to really dive deep into our financial situation and find opportunities where they lie,” he said.

Board members and employee groups also argued it was important to reward district employees for helping the district achieve its first A-grade from the state since 2011.

“Teachers show up, they stay extra, they work extra. They want to do extra,” said Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union. “It’s because of the educators, because of our administrators, because of all the support staff in our public schools that we had made it to an A. And we are committed to keeping the A.”