NORTHEAST TALLAHASSEE, FL \u2014 Leon County Schools and the Leon Classroom Teachers’ Association restarted contract negotiations this summer, discussing salary, benefits and working conditions.<\/p>\n
WATCH FULL REPORT BELOW:<\/p>\n
LCS, LCTA restart contract talks with salary and benefits on the agenda<\/p>\n
A key issue in this year’s talks is how to distribute Florida’s $200 million<\/a> in new funding for teacher salary increases \u2014 funding LCTA\u2019s President Scott Mazur says won’t reach everyone.<\/p>\n “In terms of actions, it’s not meeting the mark. You don’t stay 50th ranked in teacher salary by accident,” Mazur said.<\/p>\n The state funding is limited to teachers with 10 or more years of teaching experience, leaving a significant portion of the workforce without a raise.<\/p>\n “There’s only 55-percent of the teachers that are actually captured by this teacher salary increase allocation, which means 45 percent of our teachers \u2014 almost half \u2014 aren’t a part of this raise,” Mazur said.<\/p>\n The LCTA is also asking the district to examine how other counties are able to build salary increases into their budgets before the school year starts.<\/p>\n “What we’re asking the district to do is, you know, in a collaborative way \u2014 this is not a finger pointing or anything like that \u2014 but to look at all of the different avenues by which they could make a budget that meets the needs of the people that are serving the students,” Mazur said.<\/p>\n Leon County Schools issued a statement saying they’ve begun negotiating and will continue to work together this year. The renewed talks follow last year’s impasse<\/a> which didn’t reach a full resolution until March<\/a>.<\/p>\n The district is also facing roughly $7.8 million in cuts<\/a> to make up for budget shortfalls.<\/p>\n A clearer proposed budget is expected later this month.<\/p>\n LCTA and Leon County Schools have two more negotiating sessions scheduled, with the next one set for Thursday.<\/p>\n ***This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.***<\/p>\n Want to see more local news? Visit the WTXL ABC 27 Website. <\/a><\/p>\n Stay in touch with us anywhere, anytime.<\/p>\n Like us on Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us on Instagram <\/a>and X.<\/a><\/p>\n