Orange County Schools and the districtwide teachers union have hit an impasse in their contract negotiations for the year.
Orange County Classroom Teachers Association says it’s been negotiating with the school board for the last two months.
These negotiations hit an impasse after the board said it won’t give teachers raises based on their years of experience.
President Clinton McCracken said right now, several veteran teachers in the district barely making more than a starting teacher.
“We have teachers who live in Brevard County, Lake County, Osceola, for example, because they can't afford to live in the community where they teach," said McCracken.
McCracken said the board also rejected the union’s proposal to pay teachers overtime, give them planning time back, and fix air conditioning problems in the district.
“You know one of things right now that’s on everybody’s mind is it's so hot, and we have AC problems going on across the district almost every day," said McCracken. "And there are other maintenance issues, for example, elevators not working and other things that get broken on campuses.”
In a statement, the board says they proposed a historic one-year compensation package worth more than $103 million that includes a 9 percent payroll jump for teachers.
The impasse comes as Florida faces a historic statewide teacher shortage. The Florida Education Association says schools are missing 7,000 teachers as the first month comes to a close.
