UPDATED BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The instructional bargaining unit, that's made up of teacher union members and non-union members, voted not to ratify the tentative salary increase agreement reached by the district and the union earlier this month of a $40 increase per paycheck.
Back to the bargaining table for the Leon Classroom Teachers Association and the Leon County School District, after their tentative agreement was not ratified by the instructional bargaining unit.
"At this point, what we're doing is we're surveying everyone as to why they voted the way that they voted, whether yes or no," said Scott Mazur, President of LCTA.
Breaking down the numbers, Mazur said out of 1141 votes, 833 voted no and 308 voted yes. Mazur added the main concern for teachers is the $40 per paycheck amount.
"This is about dignity," said Mazur. "Dignity of our educators and respecting them enough so that they can then take the dignity that they receive in terms of whether it's working conditions or financial packages and then convey that to the students so that they have dignity about the things they care about."
The State has recently put pressure on the District, sending a letter in September from the Education Commissioner, to implement the $1 million they have designated for teacher salary increases.
The District was unable to add local funds to this amount.
"We've had numerous conversations over the last six months or more about our budget situation and how we have the same amount of revenue this year that we did last year," said Superintendent Rocky Hanna. "But our expenses have grown between $5 and $6 million, and we're out of money."
Both Mazur and Hanna said the legislature needs to prioritize public schools for the District to be able to add money.
If the Union and the District cannot agree, they will have to go to impasse, a move both parties are trying to avoid.
However, Hanna said they are already looking at cuts for the 2026/27 school year, including slashing social worker and guidance counselor positions.
"Unfortunatel,y now, with our budget situation, the way it is, those positions are on the table, as are the money we sent to support arts and programs in our school," said Hanna.
Now, Mazur said they'll go back to the bargaining table with the district. He expects that to be within the next couple of weeks.
Original:
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Leon Teachers wrote that "employees of the instructional bargaining unit have not ratified the tentative agreement between LCTA and LCS."
The move comes after a tentative salary increase was reached earlier this month of about $40 a paycheck. This was going to be funded by money given to the district by the State for teacher salary increases. That's as pressure has been applied by the Education Commissioner for the district to apply these funds designated for these increases.
The agreement needed to be ratified by both the district and the union before the salary increases could be implemented.
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