Alachua County Public Schools and the Alachua County Education Association reached a tentative agreement Thursday on salary increases for the 2024-2025 school year.
According to the press release, the agreement includes an additional 1.6% pay raise for most employees, retroactive to July 1, 2024, or the start of their work year. Combined with a 1% increase already implemented, the total raise for the year would be 2.6%.
The deal still must be ratified by employees and approved by the school board.
If ACPS employees vote in time, the board will vote on the new salary schedule during its Jan. 21 meeting. Raises and retroactive pay would then be included in February paychecks. Retroactive pay is the compensation a teacher receives from a prior pay after a salary increase.
Salary negotiations between ACPS and the ACEA reached an impasse in September. The union proposed a 3.2% salary increase for the 2024-25 school year, while the district offered a 1.6% raise. The impasse raised concerns about teacher retention and compensation as employees faced rising costs of living and increasing job responsibilities.
The Alligator previously reported the district’s 1.6% offer in October was due to financial challenges of the school year, including the state ceasing Elementary and Secondary Educational Relief funding. The funds brought more than $95 million to ACPS to recover from the pandemic.
Teacher salaries are negotiated every year. For the 2023-24 school year, teachers received a 3.5% salary increase, with retroactive pay from the beginning of the contract period, which was in early July 2023.
In the press release, Superintendent Kamela Patton wrote she was happy to see both ACSB and the ACEA reach a tentative agreement.
“I know it was a challenge with all the financial pressures on our district this year, but I’m glad the negotiators were able to get this done for our hard-working employees,” she wrote.
ACEA President Carmen Ward did not respond for comment in time for publication.
Contact Sara-James Ranta at sranta@alligator.org. Follow her on X @sarajamesranta
Sara-James Ranta is a third-year journalism major, minoring in sociology of social justice and policy. Previously, she served as a general assignment reporter for The Alligator's university desk.
