School Board of Broward County, Broward Teachers Union Reach Tentative Agreement for Education Professionals for 2012/13 School Year
Oct 17, 2012
Broward County Public Schools issued the following news release on October 16, 2012:
The School Board of Broward County, Florida and the Broward Teachers Union (BTU) have reached a tentative agreement for the 2012/13 school year. The tentative agreement includes economic and non-economic items. In the past four years, the District has been unable to provide a scheduled increase to its collective bargaining units represented by the BTU.
The negotiation teams consisted of representation from both sides who engaged in a constructive bargaining process, where significant compromises had to be made in order to reach a fair agreement.
“We are able to move forward in a positive direction for this school year, despite our limited financial resources,” said Broward Schools Superintendent Robert W. Runcie. “This year’s agreement represents ongoing dialogue that is critical to establishing the highest level of quality instruction for our students, while maintaining fair working conditions and retaining the most qualified teachers in our classrooms.”
Key highlights of the tentative agreement include:
- Providing a salary increase to employees represented by the BTU education professionals unit effective January 1, 2013; $500 of added salary for instructional staff on the salary schedule’s top step; and an additional bonus for employees on steps 1-16.
- Retaining our effective and highly effective teachers in our schools.
- Implementing flexibility to attract and retain the highest quality of instruction to serve our students at our highest priority schools.
- Committing to continue to work collaboratively on items such as health care redesign and implementing the teacher evaluation system.
“Reaching today’s tentative agreement resulted from months of hard work by both the Union and District’s negotiators,” BTU Administrator John Tarka said. “After going four years without a raise, the tentative agreement is an important step in moving the Union and District forward in a positive direction. All contract negotiations are a give and take, but I believe each side can take satisfaction in this tentative agreement considering that the current economy is still slowly improving.”
The negotiations teams are also in ongoing discussions for the other bargaining units represented by the BTU.
As the School Board of Broward County, Florida and the Broward Teachers Union continue to work together through this process, additional details will be provided as more information becomes available.