ORLANDO, Fla. — It's back to the bargaining table Thursday for Orange County teachers and the school district, who are negotiating salaries.
- Orange County teachers want higher salaries
- School board approved more than $2 billion budget
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For months, teachers have been demanding higher salaries with no luck.
Union leaders say they have even hired a forensic auditor to go over the school district's budget to find areas where they can get more money for teachers.
"I think people don't understand that a lot of teachers live paycheck to paycheck. They don't even have savings for if they have an illness," said Wendy Doromal, president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association. "We have a CTA crisis fund that we've used more and more over last few years to help teachers who do get ill and need some money or boost to help them survive."
Last week, the school board approved a more than $2 billion budget for this school year, even though they don't know how much they will be paying teachers.
District administrators say the budget has funds for extra bonuses for teachers, but the union wants something more permanent.
The union wants a bigger chunk of that money for a substantial pay raise and more affordable health insurance.
Earlier this summer, teachers rejected the original pay deal that would have increased the district's total payroll expenses by 4 percent. That deal would have increased the salary of teachers deemed "effective" by $1,625, and "highly effective" teachers by $2,025. But teachers voted down the deal because of health insurance increases.
During negotiations Thursday, OCPS offered a larger bonus for teachers, from $500 in the original proposal to $1,250. The district has also now identified $95.8 million in unassigned funds in their coffers, and it's willing to use $11.5 million of those dollars for that teacher bonus boost.
Last month, teachers rejected the original pay deal offered by the district.
School board members say they want to give teachers more money but blame their financial woes on a lack of funding from the state.
The budget can be amended if teachers and the district come up with a new agreement.