WATCH REPLAY: Huge Crowd Turns Out for Teacher Pay Raise Hearing, Board Votes 4-1 for Superintendent’s Proposal

WATCH THE MEETING AND TEACHER RALLY REPLAY ON SPACE COAST DAILY TV

SPACE COAST DAILY TV: Public hearing from the Brevard Public School Board in Viera to resolve the dispute over teacher pay. The Brevard County School Board voted to back a proposal by Superintendent Mark Mullins and the Brevard school district that calls for lesser pay raises than a union proposal by a 4-1 margin at a special meeting on Monday morning in Viera. 

SPACE COAST DAILY TV: Teachers pack into the Brevard County School Board meeting prior to the hearing concerning teacher raises. The Brevard County School Board voted to back a proposal by Superintendent Mark Mullins and the Brevard school district that calls for lesser pay raises than a union proposal by a 4-1 margin at a special meeting on Monday morning in Viera. 

SPACE COAST DAILY TV: Protest by Brevard Federation of Teachers union outside Brevard School Board prior to the Brevard Public Schools hearing concerning teacher raises. The Brevard County School Board voted to back a proposal by Superintendent Mark Mullins and the Brevard school district that calls for lesser pay raises than a union proposal by a 4-1 margin at a special meeting on Monday morning in Viera. 

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Brevard County School Board voted to back a proposal by Superintendent Mark Mullins and the Brevard school district that calls for lesser pay raises than a union proposal by a 4-1 margin at a special meeting on Monday morning in Viera. 

The Brevard Federations of Teachers had argued for a raise for “highly effective” teachers of $2,300 and $1,725 for “effective” teachers. The district’s proposal calls for raise salaries for highly effective teachers by $1,100 and $825 by effective teachers. Additionally, all teachers would receive $650 and first-year teachers that return for the 2019-2020 school year would receive a $500 bonus.

“This was a total disgrace that the school district chose to vote against the best interests of the students as identified by the special magistrate and went with the district’s flawed numbers,” said Brevard Federations of Teachers president Anthony Colucci. “(…)This is going to have a disastrous effect for education here in Brevard County.”

BFT members will next vote on the proposed agreement, Colucci added.

“I think you see where our teachers are at when this is presented to them at a contract vote,” Colucci added, referring to the negative reaction the room full of teachers had as it became apparent the board’s vote wouldn’t go in their favor.

Board members Tina Descovich, Misty Belford, Cheryl McDougall and Katye Campbell voted to support the district’s proposal while Matt Susin voted against it, favoring the union’s proposal instead.

“What my main argument was is that the core mission of ours is to educate kids and when we’re sitting there arguing over a couple of million dollars for a billion dollar budget, I find it very difficult that we can’t get there and I wish we would have but that’s why it’s a democracy and I lost 1-4 and we’ll see what we can do for the teachers now,” Susin said.

Susin said that did not believe in funding the raise with non-reoccurring dollars. He added that did not want to want to touch fund balance but did believe that there were re-occurring dollars in the reoccurring budget to pay teacher’s salaries.

The school board did vote unanimously in favor of the magistrate’s opinion with respect to give exceptional student education (ESE) teachers an increased yearly bonus from $165 to $1000. Mullins recently announced that the district also would agree to the added bonuses.

Prior to the meeting, at least several hundred BFT members lined a portion of Judge Fran Jamieson Way, with many waving signs that they brought into the meeting with them.

The number of teachers was so great that additional space was created than what is normally available in the meeting room.

Additionally, the district set up an auxiliary room for those who couldn’t make it in to the board room once it reached capacity at the Viera High School media center.

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