Teachers are taking to the streets in Brevard County Friday morning.
They’re planning a protest because they didn’t get pay raises.
Some teachers at Oak Park Elementary School in Titusville are planning to walk in to work together.
The Brevard Federation of Teachers union is upset that the Brevard County School District will not renegotiate a compensation increase for teachers for this school year.
Back in July, a negotiator for the district promised to discuss a wage increase if voters approved a half-cent sales tax in November.
With the tax approved, union leaders say it should free up funds for raises.
But district leaders say they still haven’t received any money from the tax yet, and they won’t renegotiate pay increases.
“We are fed up with the district not keeping its word, and that’s what this is all about. They made a promise and they didn’t keep it,” said Richard Smith, president of the Brevard Federation of Teachers.
“That’s not a promise that we made and that’s not something we can even do,” said School Board member Andy Ziegler. “We believe everybody should have supported the half-cent sales tax because it’s the right thing to do to support our schools.”
The school board says the negotiator didn’t have the authority to promise renegotiating pay raises.
The union says it has been at least 7 years since teachers in Brevard County got a substantial wage increase.
This is their first walk in, but they’re promising to do more, every Friday for the rest of the school year, until they say the district honors their word.
School administrators say they’ll consider compensation increases for the 2015-2016 school year.