For Florida educators, union representation doesn’t promise higher pay | Opinion
Following dozens of government unions who have lost certification due to Florida’s Senate Bill 256, two additional teachers unions will face recertification elections in the coming months: The Palm Beach County Classroom Teachers Association and the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association.
SB 256, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year, implemented a series of public sector labor reforms, including changes to the process by which unions obtain certification as a government employer’s exclusive bargaining representative.
Now, unions who are unable to garner support from at least 60% of the employees they represent must reapply for certification. This process includes a secret ballot election, allowing employees to approve or deny a union’s exclusive bargaining rights.
As a result, at least 28 unions have been fully decertified since the bill’s implementation last year, in addition to dozens more that have fallen under the 60% membership benchmark. This includes the nation’s third largest teachers union, the United Teachers of Dade, who will face a recertification election “as soon as practicable,” according to the Florida Public Employment Relations Commission.
The Florida Education Association (FEA), a statewide teachers union affiliated with both the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers, has lost upwards of 7,500 members since 2020, contributing to the uptick in union decertifications authorized by SB 256.
A factor in many teachers’ decisions to part with FEA may lie in the state’s low teacher pay. Though Florida’s average teacher salary ranked 36th among the 50 states in 2010, the Sunshine State now ranks second to last, according to the NEA’s own data.
This decline, however, isn’t due to inaction by the Florida Legislature.
Senate Bill 736, signed into law by then-Gov. Rick Scott in 2011, implemented performance-based pay for educators in the state, incentivizing effective teachers with additional compensation. Though new teachers were automatically enrolled in the new merit-pay system, existing educators had the option to remain on the previous step-increase payroll.
Also known as the “Student Success Act,” SB 736’s financial incentives drew quality teachers to Florida schools, improving student achievement across the state in the process.
Nonetheless, FEA filed a lawsuit against the state in opposition to the Student Success Act, arguing that the new payment system violated collective bargaining rights in Florida’s constitution. After a circuit court in Tallahassee dismissed FEA’s suit, the union appealed to a state judge who overturned the law in August of 2012.
Attempts to raise teacher pay have continued under DeSantis’ direction. In 2020, the governor approved $600 million in state funding for teacher raises and bonuses, dubbed “the single largest compensation increase ever in Florida.”
In the years since, additional funding for teacher pay authorized by DeSantis now amounts to a total of over $3 billion.
These raises, however, “did not pass union muster.” Several FEA affiliates demanded additional raises for non-teaching personnel and veteran teachers, stalling raises for educators through lengthy collective bargaining negotiations.
By January 2021, six Florida school districts remained at an impasse with FEA affiliates over additional funding, ten months after DeSantis made raises possible.
Despite repeated attempts by the Florida Legislature to increase teacher pay amid union roadblocks, FEA continues to blame “anti-education politicians” for “a stagnant and declining average salary.”
Thanks to protections implemented by SB 256, the fate of FEA and its affiliates rests in the hands of Florida educators. In Palm Beach and Orange counties, time will tell whether teachers believe union membership is a worthy investment, or if FEA’s impact on teacher pay wasn’t exactly what they had in mind.
Maddie Dermon is director of communications for the Freedom Foundation in Olympia, Wash.