United Teachers of Dade and Miami-Dade County Public Schools reached a tentative salary agreement Wednesday that introduces merit pay for teachers new to the district and gives tenured teachers a 3 percent raise.
The new agreement, for the 2016-2017 school year, brings into play a longstanding controversy over a state law requiring school districts to adopt performance pay. The law calls for bonuses of up to several thousand dollars a year for teachers rated “effective” or “highly effective,” and says those bonuses must be larger than raises for seniority.
But in order to qualify, veteran teachers have to give up long-term contracts and opt into the new system with less job security. Only a fraction of Dade teachers are recent hires on annual contracts, those who qualify for performance pay. Nearly 90 percent are still on long-term contracts that were grandfathered in.
If the agreement is approved in a union vote next week, classroom aides and security monitors making minimum wage stand to see their pay boosted to $10 an hour. The school district would also be responsible for absorbing an estimated $35 million increase in health insurance costs over the coming year.
