Tampa Bay Times24%
Veteran teachers across Tampa Bay to get raises 7%
By Jeffrey S. Solochek7%
7/31/2026, 8:58:59 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 22 faulty reasoning types, including Confirmation Bias, Biased Writer Voice, and Representativeness Heuristic, with Post Hoc (False Cause) as the most egregious example at 10.1% saturation with 81 hits. Analysis detected 718 faulty-reasoning hits from 799 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 18.9% and a BS Rank of 7% (23,560 of 25,268 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 93.20% of the article peer group.
Facing a state-imposed Friday deadline, school districts across Tampa Bay have reached agreements to boost the paychecks of classroom teachers with 10 or more years of experience in Florida.
Even with the deals, funded by a line item in the recently signed legislative budget, teacher union leaders said much more work remains ahead in the effort to improve educators’ working and financial conditions.
Negotiations continue over hot-button issues including health insurance costs and getting extra pay to employees “excluded by the state of Florida” in its $200 million line item, as United School Employees of Pasco president Jeff Larsen put it.
After years of pushing more money into base salaries, lawmakers this year directed new funding into veteran teachers’ compensation, amid reports that Florida’s average teacher salary ranked 50th nationally.
The Pasco district was the latest to seal a deal for its $5.9 million share of the state money.
During a three hour negotiation session Thursday, representatives from the district and union hashed out language that would increase the pay of about 1,960 teachers with 10 or more years by $1,400 to $3,000, depending on the number of years teaching in the state.
The sides also met earlier in the week trying to settle on terms.
One of the hang-ups centered on the district’s proposal to use about $3 million in revenue from its voter-approved property tax referendum to provide bonuses to teachers not included in the state program.
Pasco has more than 450 veteran teachers not assigned to classrooms, for instance.
“The board deeply, deeply, deeply wants to ensure that our teachers are not left out simply because they are nonclassroom teachers,” said Nora Light, lead district negotiator, during the Thursday talks.
“We are making use of what we have, because the reality is, it’s all we’ve got,” Light added, noting that other resources for raises don’t exist as the district confronts a $10 million potential budget shortfall.
While stressing support for getting more for all teachers, the union bargaining team expressed reservations with the district’s plan to hand out one-time supplements from a revenue stream that heads back to voters for reconsideration in the fall .
“Now isn’t the time to make that negotiation,” Larsen said, asking that the discussion on that line come back later.
“At this point, we are not comfortable with using the referendum money as described.”
The district agreed to keep the immediate focus on the state requirement.
If they did not complete it, lawmakers mandated that the discussions go to an impasse hearing before a third party as early as next week.
That action emanated after several Republican government officials criticized some districts and unions , none in the Tampa Bay area, for delaying agreements on past years’ legislative allocations for teacher raises.
Tracey McConnell, president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, suggested such a threat hanging over everyone’s head might have made a difference in her district.
Pinellas reached a salary deal on July 23.
The sides also sparred over whether to include referendum money in their pay discussions, and how to get raises to more than just veteran classroom teachers.
In the end, they agreed to $2,948 for teachers with more than 10 years, and $2,534 for those with less.
They did include referendum revenue and also decided to add two days of bereavement leave and provide district-paid certification renewal fees.
“Part of what really helped us get to agreement was the deadline,” McConnell said, stressing her side would not accept anything that pushed teachers into the red.
“The district came much quicker with something they thought we would be willing to do, because they didn’t want to go to impasse.”
In a news release, the district touted the deal as reflective of their collaborative effort to value instructional employees while also balancing the district’s financial realities.
The Hillsborough school district, meanwhile, has a tentative agreement on the state money in place, said Rob Kriete, Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association president.
In it, the district and union decided to add the state money to teacher salary steps on the pay schedule, and to give every teacher an added step for the new year, Kriete said.
Having the deal in place allowed the district to avoid impasse, he added, noting that the sides “still need to iron out details.”
The districts next must get their agreements ratified by Oct. 1 and send them to the state for review.
They then must distribute the state money by Jan. 1, and report to the state any plans for using any of the funds that remain.
The Tampa Bay Times Education Hub reports on Florida’s schools and universities and the students they serve.
You can contribute to the hub through our journalism fund by clicking here .
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.