ORLANDO, Fla. — As students settle into routines in Orange County Public Schools, their teachers and school support staff are working without a new contract. The district remains deadlocked in contract talks with two unions. Many of them worry about how they will make ends meet under the district’s current proposal.
Bus drivers and bus monitors are some of the district’s 7,500 support staff who clean the schools, serve food in cafeterias and work to keep schools running.
Takeshia Griffin has been a bus monitor with OCPS for ten years. Griffin says she earns $27,000 a year and her budget is tight.
“Gas prices are up. Food’s going up and you wonder where you’re gonna eat your next meal and how you’re gonna have enough money to get gas to get back and forth to work,” Griffin said.
Ron Pollard is president of the Orange Education Support Professionals Association (OESPA), the union representing support staff. Pollard says many of them earn $25,000 to $30,000 a year, and they are struggling to pay their bills.
“Rental rates are so high right now in this area,” Pollard said. “They’re really stressing people out, and we’re losing employees daily.”
Pollard adds that with low salaries, many OESPA members cannot afford to add spouses or children to their coverage, and he says many of those workers are single mothers. He has an appeal to the OCPS school board.
“You consider that you have people, employees. They’re not numbers. They are not graphs on a PowerPoint presentation,” Pollard said.
Scott Howat is the OCPS Chief Communications Officer. He says that the support staff workers are vital to the district’s operations. Howat explains the district is offering support workers a 2.5% pay raise and a zero-cost annual premium plan for employees if they are only covering themselves. He says 18% of OESPA workers cover family members.
“They could opt to go to a zero-cost premium plan and pair that with PeopleOne, which provide preventative care, sick care, also prescriptions, up to 200 prescriptions, for no cost,” Howatt said.
District officials say they must change the healthcare plan they offer or face a $145 million shortfall this year in their healthcare trust fund that pays claims. They say that the deficit could grow next year, too.
Griffin says she will try to press on.
“I love the job and I love working with kids and I love working with ESE kids, but they just need to have a better rate,” Griffin said.
The school district, the teachers and support workers unions are waiting for a special magistrate to make recommendations on a new contract to try to break the impasse.
They expect the recommendation sometime next month.