During a Florida Educational Negotiators (FEN) webinar, Leonard Dietzen discussed the new Teacher Allocation Funds law and school board negotiations for reopening plans.

While the new Teacher Allocation Funds law provides significant raises to many teachers in the state, it does not reach every classroom teacher in Florida. While the goal of the law is to create a new minimum base pay of $47,500 for classroom teachers and certified Pre-K teachers, many Districts did not receive sufficient funds to reach that goal. The new law has several technical requirements that leaves little room to negotiate for more experienced teachers.  

He also discussed how various school boards are negotiating their reopening plans during this fluid period of time. Difficult management safety decisions were discussed such as whether to mandate employees and students to wear masks. Also, it is clear that many schools will look different from the traditional brick and mortar options they had for decades. These new virtual options will  have many impacts on union contracts and raise difficult district by district issues for negotiators.