There will soon be a wage hike for Palm Beach County public school teachers.
The School District of Palm Beach County’s board of education overwhelmingly adopted a collective bargaining deal on Wednesday, giving all teachers, including permanent substitutes, an annual salary rise of up to 3.5 percent based on their performance rating.
As on July 1, 2021, the increases will be retroactive.
“I know how committed the board is to providing the best salaries possible for all of our employees, and we worked hard to get there,” Superintendent Mike Burke said.
In addition, the agreement provides a one-time $1,500 incentive for all district instructors. The federal government has provided the district with COVID-19 relief monies, which will be used to pay for that.
Bonuses of $100 per year will be given to teachers at Title I schools, F-rated schools, and Triple-D-rated schools, as well as instructional professionals in the “important shortage areas” of primary education, science; language arts; reading; ESOL; mathematics; and foreign languages.
$49.7 million will be spent on pay hikes and bonuses.
Palm Beach County’s Classroom Teachers Association has yet to sign off on the arrangement.
