Volusia County Schools

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Below is a list of issues or information relative to Volusia County Schools. Click any link for more information.

TEACHER DISPUTE SETTLED

Posted July 22, 2016

After much negotiation, on July 20, the Volusia School District and the employee unions representing teachers and support personnel announced agreement on a new contract. According to releases issued by the District, the major points in the Agreements were:

Increases beginning teacher pay by $1,000;

· Average teacher raises of 4.25% for the 2016-2017 school year and 2.5% for the 2017-2018 school year. No raise would be awarded for the 2015-2016 school year;

· Average clerical raises of 6.25% for the 2016-2017 school year and 2.5% for the 2017-2018 school year. No raise would be awarded for the 2015-2016 school year;

Plus additional raises ranging from $0.75 - $1.00 for school paraprofessionals and $0.25 per hour for clerical personnel.

· One-time bonuses paid to employees returning to duty in the 2016-2017 school year from the prior year: $500 to teachers and $300 to clerical and paraprofessional personnel; and

· Employee health insurance subsidy of $531 per month. This results in a combined public savings of over $18 million over a two year period.

For trade union workers the two year agreement provides:

Average raises of 6.25% for the 2016-2017 school year and 2.5% for the 2017-2018 school year. No raise would be awarded for the 2015-2016 school year; Plus additional raises of $1.00 per hour for cafeteria managers and assistants.

One-time bonus of $300 paid to employees returning to duty in the 2016-2017 school year from the prior year; and

Employee health insurance subsidy of $531 per month. This results in a combined public savings of over $18 million over a two year period when applied to all employees.

All of the agreements are subject to ratification by the District and by the membership of the respective unions.

Access the Approved Teacher contract here

Current Approved teacher contract

WHAT THE WAGE ARGUMENT IS ALL ABOUT

The Volusia School Board and its unions are in prolonged negotiations over wages, with both sides claiming bad faith by the other which has stalled the process. To help taxpayers and parents decide whose side they favor, the link below will take you to a listing of the gross pay for all School District employees for the calendar year 2015, including administrative staff and members of the School Board.

The District advises that the amounts include, but may not be limited to: salary for primary assignment; supplements; bonuses; overtime; leave payments and wages for other duties such as monitoring or summer programs. Teachers listed as Primary are those working with grades K-2; Intermediate Teachers 3-5; Core Teachers teach the core subject areas of English, Reading/Language Arts, Science, Math and Social Studies. Non-Core Teachers teach electives. There are a total of 47 teacher classifications used by the District.

Most teachers have a 196 day contract based on a 7 (elementary) or 7.5 hour day averaging 300 minutes of instruction. Administrators are paid for 40 hours/week, 250-255 days per year, although the District notes they all routinely exceed those hours. Payroll does not include benefits, of which health insurance is the principal component. As this table shows, with each employee able to select coverage for

him or herself, for which the premium is $20 per month regardless of the plan. Employees may add spouse, child or family coverage by paying the premium in excess of individual coverage. The taxpayers pay from $438.81 to $839.55 per employee per month, depending on the plan. The $400.74 difference based solely on employee plan selection has not been a benefit issue. The 6,735 participating employees pay a collective total of $10,292.855, including additional premiums for dependents, and the taxpayers $56,029,060.

The School District has about 7,300 people as "regular" employees at any given time. Substitute teachers are classified as “at will” employees and the lists of those paid during the year swelled in 2015 to more than 10,000 including them and part timers and others who worked as little as a single day. At the beginning of March, the District reported it had 4,578 teaching positions filled. A GovStuff analysis of slightly earlier District data covered 10,181 employees of whom 3,733 were teachers paid more than $35,000 for the school year, averaging $49,204 or $33.51/hour. An additional 992 made less than $35,000 based on time worked and other factors. The table shows the number of employees in pay ranges over $35,000.

 

For a list of these teachers, by gross pay less benefits, click here.

In early March, approximately 3,145 teachers (68.7% of the total employed) were members of the Volusia Teachers Organization (VTO) which represents them in compensation and other negotiations with the District. To see job titles covered by the VTO contract, click here, Current dues for full time teachers are $672 annually, $336 for part time teachers. The total dues the District collected through payroll deduction and remitted to VTO in the 2014-15 fiscal year were $2,016,720. There is much speculation that the Volusia District experiences a high turn-over rate. According to information on all "reasons for leaving" furnished by the District, the rate of turn-over is approximately 1.7%.

Andrew Spar, full-time president of the Volusia Teachers Organization, has the 20th highest gross pay of Volusia teachers under a contract provision that his teaching status and that of teacher Barbara Hoffman are preserved while they spend full time on VTO business. Spar, who has been classified as a "teacher on assignment" since 2003, and Hoffman retain their seniority and continue their enrollment in the retirement plan. Spar's 2015 gross pay totaled $84,165, plus benefits, and reimbursement by the VTO amounted to $107,878.

Although education and taxpayer groups around the country protest similar arrangements, some going to court to do so, the deals have been held legal as actions within the discretion of school authorities.

Gross pay for all School District employees for the calendar year 2015

Data courtesy Volusia School District - Caution - BIG FILE