SB 538<\/a> on Monday afternoon in a 104-6 vote, and the Senate passed it again 37-0 after signing off on amendments to the bill on Tuesday afternoon. <\/p>\nFor high school coaches who have sought better pay for years as responsibilities and hours have increased substantially, this is the first step in trying to close the gap. <\/p>\n
News4JAX has tracked the coaching pay issue for more than a decade, and now, it\u2019s up to the school districts to come to the table and help boost coaching pay.<\/p>\n
Rep. Adam Anderson (R-Palm Harbor), cosponsor of the House bill, has said from the time he took up the coach pay fight that it is long overdue to start making inroads on the issue. High school football head coaches in Florida earn an annual supplement ranging from a low of $3,038 (Broward County) to a high of $8,317 (Charlotte County). Their teaching salary is separate. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think many folks here in Tallahassee really understood how different our compensation structure is for coaches compared to surrounding states,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd in Florida, we like to win. We like to lead the nation. This is not one that we were winning or leading in, but that\u2019s all changing now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anderson was at the forefront of the bill more than a year and a half ago. He and Shane Abbott, a Republican who represents portions of Calhoun, Holmes, Jackson, Walton and Washington counties, authored the House version of the bill. Nothing is official until it\u2019s signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, but Anderson said he\u2019s confident the bill will get there. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m feeling very optimistic that we will get this done,\u201d Anderson said during a break from a House session.<\/p>\n
RELATED<\/p>\n
Sen. Corey Simon, a Republican who represents several Tallahassee-area counties, was the sponsor of the Senate version. He\u2019s a big-time sports proponent who played at Florida State and went on to become a first-round draft pick of the Eagles. So, it wasn\u2019t surprising to see Simon lean on visible figures like Jimbo Fisher, Mike Alstott, Cris Carter and others during trips in Tallahassee. Anderson said that lawmakers being able to talk to and hear from professional athletes and coaches about the topic left a significant impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey provide a different type of guidance that a student is not going to get in the classroom and maybe a different type of guidance that they\u2019re going to get at home too. So, they are truly some of the most valuable mentors to our students,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I know no coach does it for the money, nor should they, but that doesn\u2019t mean we shouldn\u2019t support them more fairly. And that\u2019s what we\u2019re seeking to do with this legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n
How can the state pull it off?<\/p>\n
The resistance is going to be tough to overcome. <\/p>\n
School districts in some places like Duval County haven\u2019t given coaches a supplemental pay raise in decades. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I can tell you with certainty is that we\u2019re going to be working with our superintendents. We\u2019re going to be working with our school board members to make sure that they understand this framework and really encourage them to execute it,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cIf we get a couple, three or four over the next few months that adopt these policies and start considering coaches as administrative personnel, start adopting policies so that the booster clubs can support them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anderson was quick to add that this bill doesn\u2019t just apply to coaches, but all extracurricular leaders like STEM club or the band director. <\/p>\n
Where will the money come from?<\/p>\n
This question comes up all the time, and it\u2019s a very big one. Public schools are hemorrhaging money as students take advantage of vouchers to attend charter and private schools. <\/p>\n
As students leave the public school system, roughly $9,000 in funding leaves with each one. That\u2019s why public-school districts everywhere in Florida are facing record budget and funding shortfalls. St. Johns County, annually rated as the state\u2019s top district, announced last month that it is facing a $23 million budget shortfall<\/a>. The money for raises will not come on the backs of taxpayers, something that helped the bills sail through committee after committee. <\/p>\nThe funding paths<\/p>\n
The legislation creates two paths for extracurricular administrators to see an increase in pay. The first is a request through a superintendent to pay them above what their current union-negotiated supplement is, thus becoming an administrative-type role. Should districts do that with an extracurricular leader like a coach, that salary can\u2019t exceed what the highest-paid administrator in the district earns. <\/p>\n
The second and more likely avenue is pay through booster clubs. Smaller districts already use that option to pay coaches more, but larger ones in the News4JAX coverage region do not allow that. <\/p>\n
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