Florida teachers will have to wait over a year before they can get a pay raise and even so, it won’t be an across-the-board pay hike.
On Sunday, House and Senate budget negotiators wrapped up budget negotiations, agreeing to the pay raise package for state teachers.
The pay increase will take effect in June 2014, but it’s not the $2,500 across-the-board pay hike that Gov. Rick Scott was pushing.
Instead, teachers rated as ‘effective’ will receive a $2,500 pay increase and those who rank as ‘highly effective’ would be eligible for $3,500.
Although negotiators did not go along with Scott’s across-the-board increase of $2,500, the governor said the deal reached by legislators would still lead to most teachers getting a raise.
“Our teachers are some of the best in the nation and they deserve to be rewarded for their great work,” Scott said, the AP reported.
House Democratic Leader Perry Thurston, D-Plantation was far less enthusiastic about the deal calling it a “slap in the face” for teachers who will have to wait more than a year before they get the pay hike.
