Gov. DeSantis' teacher pay plan would leave half of Brevard teachers without raises | Rangel

It takes a Brevard County public school teacher 16 years to make roughly $47,500 a year. That's also the starting salary Gov. Ron DeSantis wants for teachers statewide, regardless of experience.

On the surface, the idea of helping teachers skip those 16 years sounds enticing. It's also a great slogan for DeSantis because, if passed by the Legislature, his plan would make Florida the No. 2 state in the nation for starting teacher pay.

What DeSantis is trying to do is unprecedented. After eight years of embarrassing education funding under former Gov. Rick Scott, it's refreshing to see a conservative governor who gets the correlation between teacher pay and a good education system. 

But as full of good intentions as the plan is— and as politically appealing for DeSantis — it also creates a new problem.

Raising the starting teacher pay to $47,500 would do nothing for veteran teachers already earning that, or just above. That means about half of Brevard teachers would not see a pay hike, according to Brevard Federation of Teachers President Anthony Colucci.

That also means that, under DeSantis' proposal, teachers fresh out of college would earn about the same as teachers who have been serving Brevard Public Schools for 16 years. New BPS hires must have at least 21 years of experience to earn a salary close to $47,500. 

Imagine how demoralizing it would be for veteran teachers to make about the same as rookies. 

 "I think DeSantis is more caught up in the talking points of a teacher salary increase," Colucci told me.

The good — or bad — news is that the real power to allocate money to raise teacher pay statewide rests with lawmakers. And, for better or worse, they aren't fully on board with DeSantis.

The Legislature went into session in Tallahassee this month and the Senate and House laid out preliminary proposals. The final product will certainly not be as ambitious and expensive as what DeSantis wants, but he deserves credit for pushing lawmakers to address the issue. 

The Senate Education Committee approved Senate Bill 1088 this week to create a fund for school districts to increase teacher pay, but it didn't specify minimum salaries as DeSantis wants. That legislation will go through major changes before session ends in March, and it's so far headed in a better direction. Instead of DeSantis' blanket statewide mandate, it leaves it up to districts to hand out raises. 

Senate Bill 1088 doesn't include the $900 million the governor requested ($600 million for pay increases and the rest for bonuses), leaving in limbo the dollar amount to execute the plan. In the House, the PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee is recommending a total of $462.6 million but details are still vague.

A final dollar amount will be a sticking point when the House and Senate begin negotiating a final teacher pay package. House leaders have already warned that DeSantis' request is too expensive, a concern shared by state Rep. Tyler Sirois, R-Merritt Island, who also agreed that any teacher pay increase must include veteran teachers.

"My concern is the estimated near $1 billion price tag," Sirois told me via email. "My number one goal is to pass a budget that meets the demands of our state, including water quality and hurricane recovery. I want to keep Florida a low tax state, a competitive state, so we have to balance all these priorities."

Whatever the price tag is, will it be enough to provide significant raises that will help shrink Florida's teacher shortage, which reached 2,440 unfilled positions in January? Or will lawmakers settle on a symbolic increase, a stunt that allows them to pat themselves on the back in an election year?

Or will they put all or most of the money into performance-based, non-recurring bonuses? Colucci pointed out bonuses have been the Legislature's focus in the past decade and that hasn't moved the needle on attracting and retaining teachers. 

DeSantis wants to tie bonuses to school performance improvements. But basing an individual teacher's compensation on how his or her school is doing on standardized tests doesn't truly measure that teacher's impact on students. DeSantis is right, however, in pushing for extra bonuses at schools serving poor students. 

Another question is whether lawmakers will include support staff at schools in a raise package. How lawmakers define the term "teachers" will be crucial: Will it also include counselors, media specialists, janitors and pre-K teachers?

Our governor and Legislature have the chance to make history and finally address years of neglect to the state's education and educators. They better get it right. 

Isadora Rangel is FLORIDA TODAY's public affairs and engagement editor and a member of the Editorial Board. Her columns reflect her opinion. Readers may reach her at irangel@floridatoday.com, by phone at 321-242-3631 or via Facebook at /IsadoraRangel.