(Courtesy of Pasco County Schools)
A vote is scheduled on Jan. 14 to determine whether or not a proposed contract between Pasco County Schools and the United School Employees of Pasco will garner enough support for adoption.
Negotiators for Pasco County Schools and the United School Employees of Pasco have hammered out a deal that includes pay raises and increased instructional planning time. But it also calls for the end of smoking on all district properties and for the end of a district early retirement program.
Teachers and school-related employees, on average, would receive a 3 percent increase under the proposal.
Union president Kenny Blankenship has characterized the proposed pay raise as “one of the best in the state.”
The proposed contract also calls for increasing teachers’ instructional planning time from the current 100 minutes a day, to 150.
Increasing planning time for teachers is perhaps the most significant item in the agreement, Blankenship has said.
The proposed contract also calls for the end of smoking on district properties, effective July 1, 2016.
That’s a provision that Superintendent Kurt Browning has said is important to helping the district have a healthier work force.
Because the change won’t take effect until mid-2016, employees will have time to take part in smoking cessation programs.
Another portion of the proposed contract calls for eliminating new entrants to the district’s early retirement program, effective June 30, 2018.
Again, there’s time between now and then for any eligible employee to take advantage of the program before it lapses.
Provided that the settlement is ratified, the Pasco County School Board is scheduled to vote on the proposed contract on Jan. 20.
Any applicable retroactive pay should be reflected in paychecks by the end of February.
Published January 7, 2015
