'False narrative': Brevard Schools' disputes teacher salary report, union offered 1% raise
Less than a week after the school district offered teachers only a 1% salary increase at the first bargaining session with the local teacher union, Brevard Public Schools touted their average teacher salary as no. 5 in Florida and called the average salary as reported by the state Department of Education a "false narrative."
"Using the information that's being provided by the different leaders in the state, we'll fact check their data," said Ryan Dufrain, assistant superintendent of human resources at BPS, during a board meeting Tuesday night.
He showed a presentation that was not on the agenda that included at least one slide lifted from a presentation given at the May 9 bargaining meeting by Brevard Federation of Teachers president Anthony Colucci.
In April, Florida was ranked at no. 50 in the nation for its average teacher salary of $53,098. That number is based on 2022-2023 data by the National Education Association. As for Brevard, it ranked at no. 38 in the state for the same time period, with teachers making $50,863, according to the Florida Department of Education, or about $2,234 less than the state average.
Dufrain disputed these numbers at Tuesday night's board meeting.
At a bargaining meeting held May 9, the district countered Brevard Federation of Teachers request of a 12.7% salary increase with the offer of a 1.07% increase, citing a lack of funding.
Brevard employed 5,467 full-time instructional staff members during the 2022-2023 school year, according to the state Department of Education.
Teacher salaries: Florida teachers make about $16,450 less than national average — and Brevard's gap is bigger
Disputed teacher salary numbers
Both the NEA report and the latest state Department of Education report reference data from the 2022-2023 school year. However, at Tuesday's board meeting, Dufrain appeared to compare the 2022-2023 school year's data for other districts in the state with more recent data from Brevard that included an approximately 10% pay increase that came from the millage, which was voted on during the 2022 election.
On average, teachers in Brevard are currently making about $58,762, Dufrain said. Comparing this to data from the 2022-2023 school year, this would rank Brevard at no. 5 among other districts, and no. 28 nationally. But this doesn't take into account updated data for any other district in the state or nation besides Brevard.
"You can't compare our data from this year to other districts' data from last year and add in millage," said Colucci during Tuesday's meeting. "Is that the kind of used car salesman tactics that this board supports?"
Graduations around the county: School won't let out until Memorial Day weekend in Brevard, but graduations start mid May
Lack of funds for teacher raises
Colucci and other members of BFT went to the district with an ask of a 12.7% increase on May 9. It's a figure they came up with based on inflation and the average salaries of teachers in other districts like Indian River, Orange and Seminole counties.
District officials countered that there aren't enough funds and an approximate 1% increase is the best Brevard can do.
"We would love to pay everybody what we could afford. We just don't have the money, and we (didn't) receive it from the state," said Rosemary Browning, director of professional standards and labor relations.
During the May 9 bargaining meeting, she added that they "can't control what the state gives" them, saying, "It is what we have available."
Additionally, the last round of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds will end in September. During the bargaining meeting, human resources staff said without funding, they may not be able to pay for the same number of positions as they have in past years.
BFT rejected the offer. Another round of bargaining will take place in mid-June, though an exact date hasn't been set.
Other board happenings: one book banned, another restricted to high school
The board voted to approve the book review committee's recommendations on two books: "This One Summer" by Mariko Tamaki and "Living Dead Girl" by Elizabeth Scott.
The committee recommended making "This One Summer" available only for high schoolers, while they recommended banning "Living Dead Girl." The board approved their requests, with board member Jennifer Jenkins in dissent of the approval of banning "Living Dead Girl," while board vice chair Gene Trent and board member Matt Susin were in dissent of approving "This One Summer" for high schoolers only. Trent and Susin didn't specify if they wanted the book banned entirely or kept available for all students, though both have historically voted for strict bans.
Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at fwalker@floridatoday.com. X: @_finchwalker.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard teachers offered 1% salary bump, district disputes salary gap
