A normally routine Broward School Board meeting to pass the yearly budget turned heated Tuesday night, amid concerns that there’s too little allocated for teacher raises.
Two School Board members, Adam Cervera and Debbi Hixon, refused to approve the budget, saying they wanted to ensure money was set aside to give teachers at least a 4% raise. This led to multiple warnings from Kathy Dupuy-Bruno, the district’s general counsel, not to discuss strategies for collective bargaining during an open meeting.
More than a dozen members of the Broward Teachers Union turned out, telling board members they can’t afford to live in South Florida and urging them to budget for teacher raises. Several audience members cheered and heckled throughout the meeting. Board Chair Sarah Leonardi issued multiple warnings for decorum violations, and at one point, recessed the meeting after a board member was interrupted.
In the end, the School Board voted 6-2 to approve a $5.2 billion budget that allocated about $9.5 million for teacher raises. This money, which district officials say is only a fraction of a percent increase, was earmarked by the state specifically for teacher pay.
Still, Superintendent Howard Hepburn said there’s a good chance money will be available for bigger salary increases. He said the district has identified between $15.2 million and $52 million in potential savings by implementing a central office hiring freeze and reducing travel, contracted services and healthcare costs. District officials say a 4% raise would cost about $64 million.
District officials have said they are in a tough financial situation due to a rapid decline in enrollment and cuts from the state. They’ve eliminated about 1,000 positions and closed seven schools, with a proposal to possibly close 10 more next year.
But Cervera, sporting a hat that read, “Pay the Teachers,” wasn’t convinced the district had made enough cuts. In August, he voiced support for a 7% teacher raise, while several other board members, including Hixon, supported a 4% increase.
Broward School Board member Adam Cervera joins the discussion at a meeting Tuesday during a discussion on the budget. Cervera, sporting a hat that read, “Pay the Teachers,” wanted to ensure that money was set aside to give teachers at least a 4% raise. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
“A lot of you said that you would not accept anything less than 4%,” Cervera told the board. “I don’t think there’s 4% there. So, what are you going to do? Are you going to honor your word? Or are you going to cave to the district’s financial failures? Are you going to have a spine? Are you going to have a backbone? Are you going to reject this nonsense? Are you going to send this back for a rewrite?”
Hixon said the board had given Hepburn “a clear directive” to budget for salary increases for employees.
“I cannot support a budget that does not include the salary increases we directed,” Hixon said. “We say that we value our teachers and employees, and our budget must demonstrate that commitment.
“I firmly believe that when we take care of our teachers and staff, they are better able to take care of our students.”
Other board members said it’s the School Board’s duty to approve the budget and rejected suggestions that the School Board was reluctant to increase teacher pay.
“This discussion must be based in facts or this board will fail a basic test of integrity and that’s a test I will not sit still for,” Board member Allen Zeman said. “This year, this board is going to work toward doing everything we can and to make hard decisions to find pay. It may be 4%. It may be 2%. It may be 7.35%. Who knows? But this board is very committed to finding money to pay people better for doing the hard work that they do.”
Dupuy-Bruno repeatedly asked the School Board not to discuss potential offers for salary increases in a public meeting.
State law allows government bodies to discuss negotiating strategies behind closed doors, prior to collective bargaining sessions.
“You have to be very careful that you’re not making promises at the dais that somebody can hold you accountable for, and then next thing we know we may have an unfair labor practice because we made some type of announcement, some type of offering to the union that is not accepted or that we cannot fulfill,” she said.
Broward School Board Superintendent Howard Hepburn leads a discussion at a meeting Tuesday about the budget. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Several teachers in attendance said they thought the School Board had already promised to find money for a 4% increase.
“This is about accountability, respect and keeping your word,” teacher Lorain D. Morris-Vachon said.
Morris-Vachon said education is a calling, “but our calling should never be used as an excuse to underpay the people who answer it. The 4% raise represents more than a number. It represents recognition. It represents respect. It represents the value we place on our professions, professionals responsible for educating the next generation.”
Other teachers said they had to take multiple jobs or move in with their parents to be able to afford to live on the salary the school district offers, which ranges from about $51,000 for beginning teachers to $88,000 for the most veteran.
“We’ve adjusted our budgets. We’ve postponed our purchases. We’ve taken second jobs. We’ve tutored. We’ve told our children no,” teacher Melissa Sherman told the board. “We make do, but there is a limit to how much of the district’s financial problems can be transferred onto the personal finances of its employees, and we have reached that limit.”