Orange County teachers union, school district agree on new contract

Orange County, teachers agree on new contract

On Tuesday, Orange County Public Schools and the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association agreed on a new contract. The next step is teacher ratification.

ORLANDO, Fla. - On Tuesday, Orange County Public Schools and the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association agreed on a new contract. The next step is teacher ratification.

The agreement came at an impasse hearing held by the school board and ended months of negotiations.

Both sides agreed to a 9% teacher raise for the current school year. The district said teachers will see health insurance premiums increase to offset increasing health care costs.

The district said it will cover 50% of the 2024-25 school year increase before the full increase takes effect the following year.

"So essentially giving a discount to the premium," district spokesperson Scott Howat said. "It would be essentially half of the premium for those depending on what they're paying."

School board members were relieved there was a deal but didn't let either side off the hook for the months of back and forth.

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"Don't come to us to give you what you think you can't get in bargaining," board member Maria Salamanca said. "I don't want to see an impasse again during my time on this board."

"We should never ever have come to this cliff," board member Pam Gould said.

"I'm really actually very irritated by this whole resolution," board member Melissa Byrd said. "I'm pleased that it happened. I'm pleased that we don't have to impose something, but I'm very frustrated that we couldn't have done this eight months ago."

The union represents about 14,000 members. They will each get a ballot by mail to cast their vote on whether to ratify the contract. Clinton McCracken, CTA president, called it a big win for teachers.

"I feel great, and I think our teachers are going to be really excited about what happened today," McCracken said.

If approved, teachers would see pay bumps in checks in the coming weeks and would also receive retroactive pay to the start of the year.

Both sides will begin negotiating the next contract on Monday.