FORT WALTON BEACH — Okaloosa County looks to be increasing its pay for teachers again.
In an effort to merge two different pay schedules before a new system takes hold next school year, the district proposed giving all teachers with 30 years or less experience about a 5 percent pay increase, according to Rita Scallan, the district’s chief financial officer.
All other district employees, including teachers with more than 30 years of experience, would see about a 4.7 percent increase, she said.
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The Okaloosa County School Board voted to approve the district’s proposal Monday without discussion and is now waiting on Tuesday’s vote by members of the Okaloosa County Education Association and the Okaloosa County Educational Support Professional Association.
If members ratify it, it will be the second year in a row that teachers see a change in their salary schedule. Prior to that, the district hadn’t made any changes to it in five years.
The new pay schedule was created for several reasons, according to Mike Foxworthy, chief of human resources for Okaloosa County schools.
Under the previous agreement, teachers with less than three years of teaching experience in Okaloosa County were paid less than other teachers despite any experience elsewhere. The new pay scale doesn’t differentiate locations teachers worked.
“It helps us attract really experienced teachers,” Foxworthy said.
The new salary schedule also aims to set up the district for next year when the pay-for-performance model takes hold.
The staff-wide raise is the result of a statewide mandate that teachers and school administrators receive a raise in the upcoming school year and the district opted to apply it to all employees, Scallan said.
If it goes into effect as is, it will cost the district about $6.2 million, she added.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.
