Sarasota Teachers Union, District Reach New Contract Agreement

SARASOTA, FL — Sarasota teachers and school employees will vote next month on a new contract that will give teachers with effective and highly effective ratings a retroactive pay raise between 3.25 percent and 4.25 percent respectively while setting a $12 minimum wage throughout the public school system.

The agreement will also boost the pay of bus drivers and aids assigned to the most challenging student populations by as much as 33 percent in some cases.

Barry Dubin, executive director of the Sarasota Classified/Teachers Association told Patch the salary increases will be retroactive to July 1. Union members and non union employees alike will vote to ratify the agreement on Feb. 12-13, he said.

Dubin said Sarasota County Public Schools and the employee union were able to come to terms following the sudden departure of former Superintendent Todd Bowden who stepped down over an investigation into his handling of allegations involving inappropriate behavior by the district's former chief operating officer and assistant superintendent, Jeff Maultsby.

"What happened is we had a superintendent who wanted to fight and they came in at the original sessions trying to strip all of our contract language whatsoever, and only talking about a bonus, but that superintendent is no longer with us," Dubin told Patch. "Sarasota has always had excellent labor relations. We all worked together. Then all of a sudden, this superintendent comes in for about 2-and-a-half, three years and just totally disrupted everything."

A district spokesperson said the salary agreement for the most part will be comparable to what employees received over past two school years.

Non-instructional employees without the effective and highly effective classifications will receive 3.75 percent increases.

The spokesperson said the $12 minimum wage will "help to substantially increase" the salaries of the district's lowest paid employees.

"Bargaining ended on a cooperative note. Both sides worked hard to reach an agreement and we would like to thank each bargaining team for their hard work and dedication to seeing this long process come to an amiable conclusion," the spokesperson added. "The completion of bargaining frees up our district to begin its search for a new superintendent."