Union to teachers: You deserve better

Clay Education Association members ratified their proposed contract with the Clay County School District, with 96.6% of union members supporting the agreement.

However, association Executive Director Betsy Reagor told her membership in a bargaining town hall meeting video that they deserved much more.  

Reagor said the school district and union were restricted in salaries they could negotiate for veteran teachers because of requirements placed on them by the Florida legislature.

She said Tallahassee lawmakers, during the 2022 session, required bigger pay increases for teachers on annual contracts than those on professional service contracts, adding that only teachers hired after 2006 were eligible for the PSC contracts.

She said the state rule, known as the Teacher Salary Increase allocation or TSIA, has resulted in a 17-year pay compression for Clay instructors, resulting in new hires in Clay County making as much as teachers with 17 years of experience.

Reagor said the only way to change the TSIA is to change minds in Tallahassee.

“We need you to come to school board meetings and talk about your experience and what the TSIA has done to you, has done to your colleagues, has done to our profession, and we need you to call your legislators and the governor about the damage that this program has done,” she said.

The school board is scheduled to approve the contract during its October 6 meeting.