School district, teachers union reach accord
The School District of Lee County approved the Teachers Association of Lee County contract on Nov. 4, which officials say will further enhance teacher retention due to an up-to-7% raise.
“I’m excited to keep supporting these teachers,” Board Member Sam Fisher said. “Some of this would not be possible without the prior work of Dr. Ken Savage and Dr. (Denise) Carlin to find money through the cuts. Kudos to your team.”
Superintendent Carlin said they are very blessed as the district is down to 20 teacher vacancies — four in the east region, four in the north region, five in the south region, six in the west region and one in a special center.
“I cannot tell you the last time those numbers existed in the district,” she said of nearing 33 years. “The kids are the winners when we fill classes.”
Carlin said they now have an up to 7% raise, when others around the state were able to give a 2%, 1% or 0.5% raise to their teachers.
Highlights of the TALC contract include an increase of nine minutes to the instructional day beginning in fiscal year 2026 and is compensated with a 2% pay increase and a base salary of $54,500 for teachers and $62,500 for special instructional — school counselors, psychologists and social workers.
There also is a compression adjustment of 3% for years three to five, 5% for years six to 14, 4.5% for years 15-20, and 3% for 21 or more years.
The contract includes up to 20 days for paid parental leave for eligible employees, up to three days per incident for immediate family members of bereavement leave, mandatory meeting language is now capped at 45 minutes, the career ladder expiring at the end of fiscal year 2025 and special instructional employees will receive one day of pay for five days of coverage for full contract time, not just student contract days.
Chief Human Resources Officer Dr. Shanna Johnston said the district needs about 300 teachers in the next four years in addition to those they already have to staff the new schools coming on board.
“We have aligned ourselves with a different goal that is more rigorous,” she said.
That goal is teacher recruitment and retention — an increase to 95%, while allowing for retirements and promotions.
The talent acquisition Wildly Important Goal (WIG) is set to be reached by July 31 to retain 95% of first-year teachers employed in Lee County, and by Aug. 11 the talent acquisition team will fill 100% of core instructional vacancies with a certified teacher.
Human Capital Operations Director Suzette Rivera said retention is the new recruitment. The first WIG sits at 91% with the subgroups of Temporary Teacher Intern Certificate inters, College of Education graduated interns and TPG international teachers who are a pipeline to permanent employment.
Recruitment Data for WIG two shows that Project Believe went from 575.3 teaching vacancies on April 24 to 39.2 teaching vacancies on Aug. 7.
Rivera said they are now down to 20 instructional vacancies with no core vacancies at risk level three and four schools.
“When you set those Widely Important Goals and you go after them and a simple way of tracking them you have a better shot of achieving them,” Carlin said.
Chairman Armor Persons said if their goal is to have a certified teacher in every classroom, then they need to also look at the absenteeism of teachers.
“We have 10% of rooms with a substitute every day. Last week we had the lowest, we had out 529 teachers in one day. The most we had out was 737 teachers in one day, which is about 12%. That may be normal. We need to look at that — 95% retention, (you need) 95% to actually be in the class at any given day if possible. It sort of defeats the purpose,” he said.
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