Contract bargaining continues between OCPS, teachers union

Orange County School Board members approved Tuesday, July 28, the tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2026-2027. 

If the final budget is approved in September, teachers across Orange County Public Schools will face increases to their insurance premiums and deductibles. 

The Orange County Classroom Teachers Association has been bargaining with OCPS regarding salaries and health insurance costs. After failed negotiation attempts, an impasse was reached in April. 

OCPS has agreed to OCCTA’s proposal of a permanent base-salary adjustment to instructional personnel who have been employed for 10 years or more. With this adjustment, teachers employed with OCPS for 10 to 14 years will receive an additional $1,925 to their base salaries. Teachers employed with OCPS for 15 to 19 years will receive a $2,025 adjustment to their salaries. For 20- to 24-year instructors, an additional $2,200 will be added to their base salaries. Teachers employed for 25 to 29 years will receive $2,500, and teachers employed for 30 to 31 years will receive $2,800. All teachers who have been with OCPS for 32 years or longer will receive a base-salary adjustment of $3,000. 

However, OCCTA still is bargaining for a 3% raise for effective teachers and a 4% raise for highly effective ones who have been with OCPS for fewer than 10 years, rather than accepting OCPS’ proposal of 2.65% for highly-effective teachers and 1.98% for effective teachers. 

For teachers who do not qualify for any increases under district proposals, OCCTA is asking for a 2% cost-of-living adjustment. 

“Teachers are struggling to remain in the profession that they love,” OCCTA President Clinton McCracken said during the public hearing Tuesday, July 28. “The cost of living in Central Florida continues to rise, while educators’ take-home pay simply doesn’t keep pace. Many are wondering how much longer they can afford to stay. Yet, they continue showing up every day for Orange County students. … They deserve a district that shows up for them.”

McCracken said while Tallahassee must do better in funding school districts, School Board members also have the power to make local decisions, and their choices reveal their priorities. 

“I’ll keep fighting for the compensation, respect and working conditions (teachers) deserve,” he said. “And I’ll keep holding this district accountable for the choices that it makes. You can’t call educators essential and then budget as if they’re expendable.” 

While base-rate adjustments have been made, affordable health care remains a topic of concern. 

Under the district’s hybrid insurance proposal, OCPS teachers’ deductibles would increase from $400 to $3,000. For a family, it would increase from $800 to $6,000.

In total, including premium and deductibles, it would cost around $22,988 for a family to be insured under OCPS’ hybrid plan, OCCTA officials said.

While OCPS’ employee-only zero-cost premium health care plan remains unchanged, premiums for dependent coverage will increase, along with deductibles for both employee-only and family plans.

“Despite these challenges, the district remains committed to offering competitive salaries and affordable access to high-quality healthcare for employees and their dependents,” OCPS officials said. 

Even with salary increases, the higher health care costs would result in lower take-home pay, making teachers have to choose between medical care, paying for groceries or bills, McCracken said. 

At the board meeting, various teachers shared personal stories on how health insurance costs would impact their lives. 

“Reading through the health insurance proposal for the first time, I felt like I need to make a decision between starting a family and remaining in this career,” teacher Rebecca Roy said. “We’re already up against so much like the time and energy commitment, Florida’s famously low teacher salary and our short three-week maternity leave. These felt like difficult obstacles, but this year’s proposed added cost to teachers makes this feel insurmountable. I simply cannot make the numbers work.” 

She said it feels as if OCPS is asking her to make a huge sacrifice, either a financial one or a personal one. 

Roy urged board members to take teachers into consideration because they are the ones who make OCPS great. 

OCPS School Board Chair Teresa Jacobs said she wishes there was more the board could do.

“I’m looking at other school districts: they’re not paying more; their insurance isn’t better,” she said. “If we improve the health care and we spend more money on the health care out of district funds, that comes from the same pot that we pay salaries.” 

Jacobs said the board simply cannot lower insurance costs and raise salaries at the same time. 

“There’s just not the money there,” she said. 

Over the past five years, OCPS has spent nearly $264 million to subsidize insurance premiums, but that no longer is sustainable. 

School Board member Angie Gallo said the board is continuing to look at options and where there might be more money to give directly to teachers and educational support staff. 

“I know that this is difficult, but I don’t want you guys to leave here hopeless and think that we’re just a bunch of bobbleheads up here not caring and not doing everything we can to try to find your money, because that simply isn’t true,” she said. “It’s just not. … We are at an impasse. We haven’t finished negotiations with the union. A lot still has to be discussed.” 

She assured the passage of the tentative budget and approval for the final budget hearing to be held Tuesday, Sept. 8, does not mean the board does not care. 

“We’ve committed that every dollar that we can find, every dime that we can find, it’s going to you all,” Gallo said to teachers. “What that looks like right now, I don’t know, but I promise you we’re trying. We’re making really hard cuts to try to find the money, and I’m committed to continue to do that for you all.”