ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County teachers ratified their contract for the 2019-2020 school year in a vote Friday.
- Orange County teachers ratify 2019-2020 contract
- Members of Orange County teacher's union spent Friday counting ballots
- The new agreement now gives teachers $700 raise
Members of the Orange County teacher’s union were busy for hours Friday afternoon counting ballots for the second contract the union negotiated.
The agreement they voted on now gives all teachers a $700 raise, compared to the $500 raise in the first agreement. Teachers rated "effective" will also get an additional $1,400 and highly effective an additional $2,100.
And their health insurance won’t go up until next school year.
OCPS teacher and behavior specialist Diana Garcia-Fidler has been teaching for 29 years. She said she was very happy with the new contract.
“I was so delighted with the new agreement,” Garcia-Fidler said.
But not every teacher is thrilled about the new agreement.
“This contract should not be done yet,” OCPS teacher and coach Mark Nolan said.
Nolan says he thinks there should’ve been an exhaustive examination of the budget before they settled on an agreement. And while he acknowledges the improvements in raises, he says they’re just kicking the rise in insurance costs down the road.
“So that problem has not gone away, it’s still going to be there, and it’s going to have to come back around next year to be dealt with,” Nolan said.
The district has said insurance premiums will go up next year.
But Garcia-Fidler said she's happy teachers voted for the deal.
“We all deserve it, we worked really hard,” Garcia-Fidler said.
Since the deal was ratified so late, teachers will receive back pay to the first duty-day of the year.