November 15, 2023 - The District School Board of Collier County, during its Regular School Board Meeting on November 14, 2023, approved ratified agreements and the memoranda of agreement with the Collier County Education Association (CCEA). The salary package represents a total increase of $26 million, which equals an approximate 13% increase when salary supplements are included.
The agreement provides a one-step increment for all teachers on the Grandfathered Salary Schedule and an additional $4,000 increase to their base salary retroactive to July 1, 2023.
For those on the Performance Salary Schedule, the agreement includes a step increase of $3,520 for all highly effective teachers and an increase of $1,320 for effective teachers retroactive to July 1, 2023. Additionally, there will be an increase of $4,000 to the base salary on the Performance Salary Schedule.
This agreement raises the starting base salary for teachers in Collier County Public Schools (CCPS) from $50,000 up to $54,000. Teachers have up to 10 days after Board approval of the agreement to decide if they will leave the Grandfathered Salary Schedule and move to the Performance Salary Schedule.
The agreement also includes the following:
- Increased period pay for coverage, team leader supplement, 7th period assignment pay, art/music/drama supplements, and lunch duty coverage
- Added dual enrollment supplement for performance of students in the classes
- Added supplement for beach volleyball coach
- Increased the number of years of experience an employee could bring into the District from 10 to 18 years of verified outside experience (this includes employees who currently work for CCPS that were previously credited for 10 years)
“I’m really proud to be part of the team that approved the largest salary increase for our teachers that this District has ever seen,” School Board member Stephanie Lucarelli stated during closing comments of the November 14 meeting. “Really thrilled it was able to be approved in time for our teachers to use that money before the holidays. I would like to thank our [bargaining] teams for making that happen.”
“I’m glad to see we got the teacher pay contract taken care of,” School Board member Tim Moshier stated during closing comments. “I’ve received a lot of calls from people around the state that I’ve met at school board trainings who said, ‘I can’t believe you guys offered that much of a pay increase.’”
“Very impressive salary increase. To be quite clear on that, if the budget had not been approved, then [salary increases] would not have happened,” stated School Board member Erick Carter, who also addressed the referendum that voters overwhelmingly approved in 2020. “We moved the millage rate of .35% from the Capital [Budget] into the Operating [Budget], and if that would not have happened, we would not have gotten the increase that we did.”
