The School Board of Alachua County and union representatives for the county's public school teachers will resume salary negotiations after teachers rejected the board’s pay increase offer.
One after another, teachers stood up at a school board meeting on Tuesday to express their concerns about pay and working conditions. Each speaker was met with applause from the audience.
Tony Malo has spent 23 years at Gainesville High School teaching students in the classroom and on the field.
“I’m there. I’m there for the kids,” he said.
But after the School Board's salary proposal, he said he is sick and tired of the county’s treatment.
“It baffles my mind how underappreciated we are as the people who are the foot soldiers in the trenches,” he said. “It’s time that we stand up for ourselves.”
Malo is among the teachers who voted against a proposed salary increase negotiated after months of bargaining between the district and the Alachua County Education Association, the union representing the school district's instructional staff.
The proposal, which was ultimately rejected by most teachers, would have added a 1.6% raise to the 1% step increase employees received this year.
The proposed salary increase would have been retroactive. However, the lack of necessary votes means that the school district and the teachers' union will return to the negotiation stage.
Alachua County teachers turned to social media, such as Facebook groups like Gainesville Word of Mouth, to rally support to vote no on the proposed salary offer.
Carmen Ward, president of the Alachua County Education Association, called the rejection historic.
“We need to find the money in the budget to make a better offer for salaries,” she said.
Ward said over 1,000 instructional employees voted against the proposed pay increase.
Malo expressed why he voted "no" on the proposal. He argues that the proposed raise is an insult when compared to the rising cost of living and teachers’ dedication to students.
"We’re constantly being asked to do more and more," he said.
Malo highlighted the burden of out-of-pocket expenses for classroom supplies and the county's low mileage reimbursement, pointing out that while the national average is $0.70 per mile, Alachua County pays only about $0.44, and it quickly adds up.
Melissa Simpson, a teacher at Lawton Chiles Elementary School, agreed with Malo, adding that she struggles to provide for her family under the current pay rate.
“I'm a mother, and I can say for myself and a lot of moms that teach that a lot of them have two jobs or side hustles,” she said.
Alachua County Public Schools Spokesperson Jackie Johnson said budget constraints are a significant factor in the salary discussions. She said nearly 80% of the district’s budget goes toward employee salaries, leaving limited room for large increases.
“We value our employees so highly, and we would very much like to offer them higher salaries,” Johnson said. “But we simply don’t have the money available this year.”
Gina Rivera, a Talbot Elementary School teacher, was among the teachers who spoke at the school board meeting. She said the disparity between teachers’ salaries and the salaries of district leaders is hard to ignore.
Rivera pointed out that the district’s interim superintendent receives a monthly salary of $19,500, along with a car allowance, living expenses, and cellphone stipends for a total of more than $20,000 per month.
Malo said if the school district can afford to pay a school board member a six-figure annual salary plus all these allowances, it can afford to pay teachers a livable wage.
Johnson defended the superintendent's compensation package, explaining that it was actually costing the district less per month than the previous superintendent's salary.
Despite the setback in teacher negotiations, the school board approved on Tuesday the 1.6% salary increase for Education Support Professionals (ESPs) in the district, which will be retroactive to the beginning of the school year.
Another point of contention between the school board and the teachers is the memorandum of understanding regarding limiting early-release Wednesdays to once a month.
Elementary and select schools typically dismiss students one hour and 15 minutes earlier than usual. But this school year, the county and Alachua County Education Association agreed to limit early releases to just once a month.
Megan Lamon, who teaches at Kanapaha Middle School, said she was under the impression that if the salary proposal was voted down, the entire negotiation process — including the MOU — would be revisited.
“The understanding was that the memorandum of understanding regarding early release Wednesdays was part of the entire negotiation process,” Lamon said. “So, a vote no would also include renegotiation of that memorandum of understanding.”
Johnson disagreed, asserting that the memorandum of understanding was an agreement separate from salary negotiations and that it would remain in effect until all agreements and salaries were ratified for the school year.
Johnson said the school board needed to limit early-release Wednesdays to meet the state’s requirement for instructional minutes.