Democrats Announce Competing Teacher Pay Raise Plan
January 13th, 2020 by Jake Stofan
Florida Democrats unveiled a plan to increase teacher salaries across the board Monday morning.
The move comes in opposition to the Governor’s proposal, which would increase starting pay for teachers to $47,500, but Democrats argue the Governor’s plan would only impact about 50 percent of teachers.
Democrats said their plan would cost the same, $900 million, but would raise salaries for all teachers and other employees by 7.5 percent starting next year.
Senate Minority Leader Audrey Gibson said the plan would take Florida from 46th in the nation for average teacher pay to 35th.
“I would certainly like to get higher than that and our caucus would, but using that money without being labeled tax and spend Democrats then keep us level and then it includes everyone. No one is left out,” said Gibson.
Moving forward, Democrats’ plan would also increase salaries by an average of 4.5 percent each year for the next ten years to adjust for cost of living increases.
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