The Florida Legislature is taking steps to stop the poaching of Florida high school athletic coaches by Georgia and other states.
SB 538 by Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, will enable public schools to significantly increase compensation for high school coaches.
The Simon bill and its House companion HB731 by Rep. Shane Abbott, R-DeFuniak Springs, and Rep. Adam Anderson, R-Palm Harbor, allows coaches to be paid additional compensation from funds raised by boosters and other support organizations.
The two proposals have passed through six committee hearings on a combined vote of 91 – 0, and the Senate will take up Simon’s version during a floor session Thursday Feb. 19.
While a legislative blowout seems certain, Simon has called on former Florida State University national championship football coach Jimbo Fisher and NFL Hall of Famer Cris Carter, to help him get it over the goal line and onto the governor’s desk.
Gov. Ron DeSantis supports the measure.
“Our coaches are under compensated,” Fisher said on the lawn outside of the Florida House with Simon, Carter, and a half dozen lawmakers standing behind him the day before the Senate would debate the measure.
“Coaches are teachers, just like the English, math and science teachers, they put the time in … and if a high school football coach gets less than a $5,000 (stipend) he’s losing money for everything he gives back to that program,” Fisher said.
How the Florida bill would change coach compensation
By loosening regulations on funds raised by support organizations, or boosters, supporters say Simon’s proposal is a game changer for high school coaches.
Florida law currently regulates how a support organization may fund extracurricular activities such as volleyball, debate clubs and theater.
Simon, Abbott and Anderson want to expand the pool of people who can be compensated with that money to include coaches, directors, and sponsors of athletics and clubs.
“They can’t pay salaries, but what they can do is create stipends for that particular club or athletic program. This is something that is already happening, so what we’re doing is just bringing uniformity to the statute so that we can bring it to light,” Simon explained recently to the Rules Committee.
Schools would be prohibited from negotiating contracts that pay a coach more than the highest paid school administrator in their district. And would not be allowed to use any booster funds to pay severance.
A plan to stop poaching of coaches
In most school districts, coaches and club advisors are hired as teachers and provided a stipend for coaching and advising extra-curricular activities.
This salary supplement varies widely. A Senate analysis found a head football coach in Broward County received a $3,038 supplement, while the average stipend in Collier County was $7,000.
Meanwhile, head football coaches in neighboring states are paid significantly more – many receiving more than $100,000 annual salary, with one Georgia coach making $219,214.
Simon’s district borders Alabama and Georgia and he cited losing three high school coaches to neighboring states in the past year.
“I’m tired of of losing good men and women that lead our programs. It’s imperative that we continue to push forward with this bill so we can somewhat level the playing field for our coaches, our mentors on our campuses,” Simon said.
Simon and Carter credited their high school coaches for instilling in them the discipline needed for later success.
While talking to reporters, Carter gave a shout out to Bill Conley, his high school coach in Middletown, Ohio.
“Bill Conley, wherever you are, you are responsible for Cris Carter making it through the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” said Carter, the current director of player engagement at Florida Atlantic University.
Simon last week called Carl Weaver, his coach at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach.
“I said Dad, happy birthday. That’s how I greet him. That’s how I respected him then and now. At a time where we have a crisis of leadership on our campuses, it is the coaches that step in and lead and hold our kids accountable,” Simon said.
In addition to allowing boosters funds to provide stipends to coaches, the proposal also,
There are minor differences between the House and Senate version, but the day before the Senate was scheduled to take up the measure, the three sponsors presented a united front.
“I see no reason why we shouldn’t pass on the floor tomorrow. And I think we’ve got a tremendous work product over in the House. Those guys are doing a great job,” Simon said with Abbott and Anderson at his side.
.James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him X: @CallTallahassee.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida lawmakers, Jimbo Fisher push bill to boost high school coach pay
Reporting by James Call, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
