The Palm Beach County Classroom Teachers Association has declared an impasse in salary negotiations with the school district, triggering a process that appears likely to lead to school board members stepping in to settle the dispute.
The CTA, which represents the district’s 12,000-plus teachers, is seeking a 5% raise, but the district — citing an unexpected drop in enrollment and a looming $40 million budget shortfall — has countered with a series of more modest boosts for groups of teachers that would average 1.5%.
That’s not nearly enough to help teachers deal with rising costs in one of the most expensive places to live in Florida, union officials say.
“So many teachers cannot afford to live in the very county where they teach,” CTA President Gordan Longhofer said. “Our educators are outstanding and proudly serve our students, parents and the community every day. Yet the Palm Beach County School District has chosen not to address the very real needs and priorities of our education heroes.”
Sean Cooley, the district’s chief of communications, said the CTA’s request for a 5% raise “is not fiscally responsible.”
“A 5% recurring raise would add approximately $50 million in new, permanent costs at the same time we are managing a $40 million budget shortfall,” Cooley said. “Committing to that level of recurring expense would also force drastic cuts to student support programs and non-instructional staff.”
The salary impasse is the first union officials can remember since 2009-2010, when a magistrate recommended and the union accepted one-time $500 bonuses instead of a pay raise. The district, still coping with the impacts of the Great Recession, said it was facing an $88.5-million shortfall as it attempted to craft its $2.7 billion budget.
Today, the budget is about twice as large, but the district and its teachers are still struggling to come together on a salary package.
The CTA said it has notified the Floida Public Employees Relation Commission that its salary talks with the distict are “deadlocked.” PERC, the state agency that handles public employee labor disputes, will now seek to have a special magistrate hearing on the matter.
The special magistrate will issue a nonbinding recommendation. If the district and CTA don’t accept that recommendation, the dispute would then go before the Palm Beach County School Board.
Longhofer is already calling for the board’s intervention.
“It’s time for our school board members to stand up for teachers and their families,” he said. “Our educators need more help supporting their families and paying their bills. It’s time to end the excuses over inadequate teacher pay.”
Cooley said putting the dispute before a special magistrate “will unfortunately delay raises for our teachers.”
The district, he said, has asked the CTA to “skip the special magistrate process and resolve the matter directly with the school board, which would expedite the process.”
School board members frequently laud the work of teachers in helping the district maintain its ‘A’ rating. The state Department of Education recently named the district one of 13 academically high-performing districts in Florida, earning teachers more praise from school board members and Superintendent Mike Burke.
Like disrict staff members, however, school board members have talked of the district’s difficult financial picture. If the magistrate process is bypassed, school board members would have to choose between the recommendations of district staff and the wishes of CTA members.
Last year, the district declared an impasse in health insurance negotiations with the CTA. The two sides reached an agreement before the special magistrate held a hearing on the matter, and the school board was not required to step in to resolve the dispute.
The headwinds the district currently faces make a 1.5% raise the best it can offer, district officials say.
Enrollment in the district is down by 6,600 students, including by more than 6,300 students at district-operated schools. State funding is tied to enrollment, and fewer students means fewer dollars.
District officials had projected a loss of $45 million in state funding and a budget shortfall of $25 million based on an enrollment count conducted in August. But a follow-up count in October showed enrollment down by another 600 students, and the projected budget shortfall is now $40 million, district officials say.
Palm Beach County teachers offered smallest raise in several years
The state Legislature approved $100 million for teacher raises, but the district’s share of that money is about $6.1 million, only enough to cover a raise of 0.6%, district officials have said.
The district has used money from the state and from a special property tax Palm Beach County voters extended in 2022 for teacher raises.
Negotiations between the teachers union and the district have resulted in raises in each of the past 10 years, including a raise of 4% last year, 7% in 2024, 3.5% raises in 2022 and 2023 and a 4.8% raise in 2021.
Average teacher pay in the district is now $69,300, well above the state average of about $55,000. For early-career teachers in the district who have no previous experience, however, the starting salary is $53,000 per year, far lower than the amount necessary to live comfortably and independently in Palm Beach County.
That starting salary is lower than the starting salary teachers make in Pinellas ($54,000), Orange ($53,848) and Miami-Dade ($53,053), according to information compiled by the district and shared with the union. The starting salary in the Palm Beach County School District is higher than the starting pay in Broward ($51,402) and Duval ($48,700).
Starting pay in Palm Beach County is also higher than that offered in the neighboring counties of Martin, Hendry and Okeechobee. So, too, is the cost of housing.
Many teachers in Palm Beach County rely on roommates or second jobs to help make ends meet.
The average home price in Palm Beach County over the past year is $459,435, according to Zillow. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in West Palm Beach is $2,091, according to Apartments.com.
A teacher making $53,000 per year would have to use 47% of their income to pay rent of $2,091. Using only 30% of their income to pay rent — the maximum portion recommended by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — would mean finding an apartment that costs $1,325 per month.
Beyond the cost of housing, the cost of other necessities, including food, has risen sharply in recent years. In September, the annual rate of inflation was 3%, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Federal statistics showed inflation averaged 5% from 2022 through 2024, and Longhofer said the district’s teachers are struggling to deal with the realities presented by ever-higher costs.
“The district’s salary offer does little to address the inflation faced by teachers whose salariesare already inadequate and below the rate of inflation over the last few years,” Longhofer said. “The District’s last offer provides a 1.5% pay increase, plus one-time bonus money that won’t pay the bills.”
Cooley presented a different characterization.
“Our offer represents a strong effort to provide a meaningful raise without jeopardizing the long-term financial stability of the school district,” he said. “We look forward to resolving this matter with CTA as soon as possible.”
Wayne Washington is a journalist covering education for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@pbpost.com. Help support our work; subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County teachers union declares impasse in pay negotiations with school district
Reporting by Wayne Washington, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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