Impasse broken: Leon County teachers will get pay raise, free childcare in tentative deal

In a collaborative breakthrough, the Leon Classroom Teachers Association and the school district reached an agreement Tuesday securing a salary increase and unique benefits to break the looming impasse in negotiations.

"As a result of our negotiations today we've come to a tentative agreement where we no longer have to go to impasse," Superintendent Rocky Hanna told the Tallahassee Democrat. "I'm super excited about this. Impasse doesn't benefit anyone."

Teachers and district administrators shook hands and celebrated with one another across the bargaining table as the two groups came to an agreement a little over a month after Hanna officially declared an impasse . In addition to a retroactive pay raise, the deal for the first time would provide paid parental leave to teachers and free before-and-after school care for teachers' children.

"This is the type of great work that we can do when we listen to each other and when we work towards a common goal of making sure we work to meet the needs of our students," teachers' union president Scott Mazur said.

The district had already filed for impasse with the Florida Public Employee Relations Committee (PERC), and an appointed special magistrate was already tapped to intervene and present a recommendation to the school board after a thorough investigation into the district's finances.

But now there will be no intervention.

The LCTA originally asked the district for a $6 million salary package; the district responded with a $4 million offer. The teachers lowered the ask to $5.5 million, which still left a $1.5 million gap. The district didn't budge on its offer.

Teachers expressed grievances on social media and in school board meetings over the package and demanded that more be done to provide the educators with what they call "a livable wage." The district maintained that it simply didn't have the money.

The district received about $2 million from the state for salaries for the school year and supplemented an additional $2 million on top of that for the negotiations package.

On Tuesday, the teachers presented three proposals that would prioritize competitive compensation and help lure qualified educators into the district. They asked for free childcare before and after school, the opportunity to be reimbursed for unused sick leave time, and paid parental leave.

The district agreed to the proposals and in turn the teachers accepted the $4 million salary package, which will include 3% pay raises for all.

Aa part of a performance pay plan, teachers who are listed as "highly effective" will receive a one time $125 bonus. "Effective" teachers will get $100.

"We are very confident that all three of those things will absolutely help (recruit teachers). They're going to be very effective in recruiting and retaining educators going forward," Hanna said.

While the salary package will be retroactively disbursed to the teachers dating back to the start of the school year, the additional benefits proposals won't be implemented until August 2025.

"This way we will have allocated the funds into next year's budget rather than having to scramble to figure out what we can do," said Brett Shively, LCS director of human resources.

Once the union ratifies the agreement and the school board approves, the district plans to implement the pay raises by March 31.

""I couldn't be happier for what this means for folks next year," Mazur said. "We'll look towards the legislative session to make sure that we all have the resources we need to make sure our community keeps getting better and better."

What's in the union deal for teachers?

• Paid sick leave:Employees who use 4 sick leave days or less for the year, shall upon request, receive payment for a designated number of sick leave days up to the maximum accrued for the respective school year. The number of days to be designated shall be determined based upon the number of eligible participants seeking payment, the number of days being requested, and the total budgetary appropriation for the fiscal year.

• Employee Childcare Assistance:The Leon County School Board agrees to offer all active teachers that are currently employed, before and after school extended day enrichment programs administered on-site by Leon County Schools free of charge. Eligible participants include the child (biological or adopted), step-child, foster child, or a child for whom the teacher has legal guardianship.

• Paid Parental Leave:The Paid Parental Leave program will provide up to five (5) days of paid leave to active Teachers due to the birth of a child, or placement of a child for adoption. Employee may combine Paid Parental Leave with accrued Sick Leave and other approved leave types during their Leave of Absence.

Alaijah Brown covers children & families for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached at ABrown1@gannett.com . Follow her on Twitter/X: @AlaijahBrown3 . 

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Leon County teachers union, district strike pay deal to avoid impasse