That Night When House Democrats Saved Local Control of Teacher Salaries

With so much going on, it is hard to imagine that just two weeks ago the Florida Legislature was still in session… we thought we would take a break from stressing over Covid-19 and review the final week of session, specifically regarding proposed teacher salary legislation. In November, it will be important to remember what actually happened during the week of March 9th.

Last fall, Governor DeSantis announced his proposal to raise minimum teacher salary to $47,500, which would give Florida the second highest starting teacher pay in the country, and declared 2020 “the Year of the Teacher.” His budget implementing bills called for an increase in minimum pay for (newer) teachers and described a reworked teacher bonus plan, rewarding teacher working at high performing (read wealthier neighborhoods), for veteran teachers. 

Despite teacher salary being the governor’s primary objective, the legislature spent relatively little public meeting time, devoted to the topic, during session.

After a couple of House PreK-12 Appropriations subcommittee meetings in October, with presentations and a panel discussion on “Florida Classroom Teacher Compensation,” the Florida House was surprisingly silent on policies related to teacher salary. The House Education Committee never openly discussed the topic nor heard any bills contain teacher salary language. Instead, the House Education committee focused its committee weeks on Voluntary PreK, Teacher Professional Development, College Athletes and Expansion of School Choice – that is, when they met… the House Ed Committee failed to meet 4 times during the first 8 weeks of committees, meaning they had time to discuss teacher salary policy, but they chose not to.

On the Senate side, the Education Committee spent one meeting essentially trolling the Commissioner of Education when increased teacher salary failed to appear on the Department of Education’s “Investing in Great Teachers” legislative budget requests.

The Senate Education Committee did hear SB1088 on January 13, 2020, the same day that thousands of teachers descended on Tallahassee for a march and rally in support of public education. SB1088 created a teacher salary enhancement allocation in the General Appropriations Act and required school districts to annually report to the Department of Education how such funds were spent. The bill, less than 2 pages long, was short on specifics and appeared to be a placeholder for further discussions.

After hearing public comment from educators and other supports of teacher raises, the bill passed unanimously out of the committee and then was never heard again.

Throughout the rest of the session, teacher salary language was tacked onto several Senate Bills (for example SB62, a bill mandating that charter school receive a per pupil share of local sales tax referenda, and SB1400, a bill designed to expand vouchers). Specific language regarding teacher salary enhancements remained vague until the final week of session.

In the final week of session, legislators were presented with two options:

• An amendment (340345) filed by House Education Committee Chair, Jennifer Sullivan, attaching “Salary Enhancement Allocation” language to HB7103, an education “train” bill, which included such diverse subjects as membership in high school athletics associations, requirements for teacher preparation programs and funding of solar panels on public schools. Sullivan’s amendment was filed at 8:20 AM on the same day (3/9/2020) that HB7103 was scheduled for its 3rd Reading and floor vote. The 11 page long amendment:
  • provided an allocation to increase minimum base salary to classroom teachers, excluding certified voluntary pre-kindergarten teachers and failing to mention charter school teachers, at all.
  • required districts to obtain approval of their proposed distribution plan from the (appointed) Florida Department of Education, before any funds could be distributed.
  • did not exclude the sharing of the teacher salary enhancement allocation from being included in the calculation of private school voucher/”scholarship” calculations.
• An amended version of HB641, a bill originally written to provide districts with additional funding for students graduation with an AP Capstone Diploma. In the Senate, the bill was amended, on 3/12/2020, by Senator Simmons to include a Teacher Salary Increase Allocation. The amended bill passed the Senate unanimously on 3/13/2020, and returned to the House for a floor vote. The Simmons amendment:
  • provided and allocation to increase minimum base salary to classroom teachers, including certified voluntary prekindergarten teachers and expressly including charter school teachers.
  • required each school district superintendent and each charter school administrator to submit its proposed salary distribution plan to the district school board or the charter school governing body, as appropriate, for approval.
  • required districts to submit their proposed distribution plan to, but not require approval from, the Florida Department of Education.
  • expressly prohibited funds meant to enhance public school teacher salaries from being sent to private schools via the Florida Empowerment Scholarship or any other voucher programs.

To us, the choice was clear.:

• One bill (HB641) extended the salary requirements to include certified VPK teachers and charter school teachers; HB7103 did not.
• One bill (641) sent all funds to public school teachers, prohibiting the sharing with private voucher schools; HB7103 did not.
• One bill (HB641) retained local of control of teacher salaries with elected school boards; the other (HB7103) required approval from an appointed board in Tallahassee.

Surprise! This time, the good bill won!

House Democrats, aware that amendments on 3rd reading require an approval of 2/3rd of the members voting, held together to defeat the Sullivan amendment on 3/9/2020, clearing the way for the House to unanimously pass HB641, including the preferred Simmons amendment, on the final day of session, 3/13/2020 at 10:07 PM.

In November, please remember that the House Democrats, along with their Senate colleagues, voted to retain local control of teacher salaries. They voted to insist the funding went to public school teachers, as promised by the Governor. Their little victory meant that certified VPK teachers and charter school teachers would be included in the salary increase allocation. They deserve our thanks.

House leadership and GOP campaign strategists are already attacking House Democrats, trying to paint them as voting “to cut teacher pay raises.” For example, this nonsense, posted by the Communications Director for House Speaker, Jose Oliva:

Don’t be fooled by their spin. Voting down the Sullivan amendment did not “cut teacher pay raises,” “kill a pay raise” or even place the raises at risk. Teacher pay raises could have simply been funded through the General Appropriations Act, without the restrictions of Sullivan’s amendment to HB7103. Thanks to the defeat of the Sullivan amendment on 3/9/2020, local control was retained; charter school and certified VPK teachers were included, the diversion of funds away from public school teachers to private voucher schools was prevented and the teacher salary increase allocation was passed, unanimously, by both chambers.

Please remember in November.

Until then, stay well.