Volusia Teachers Union Continues Work On Salary Plan

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DeLand, FL - The work continues by the Volusia United Educators union to create a salary schedule for the $6 million allotted by the Volusia County School Board to be used for teacher raises. Union President Elizabeth Albert said that a requirement in a three-year contract ratified in November was to form a committee between VUE and the school district to go over the salary schedule.

Albert said that the committee first wanted to figure out how to lift a ten year salary cap for teachers that have come to Volusia County since 2013 and change their service credit to reflect their time. Another item on the committee's list, according to Albert, is what she calls a compression issue, which affects teachers with longevity with the school district only making a few thousand dollars more in some circumstances than teachers that have been with the district a much shorter time.

The committee was also asked to create a salary schedule for new hires. Albert said the committee has accomplished these tasks. She said an important component recommended by the salary committee is a longevity supplement to compensate veteran teachers. Albert said that recommendation should be a fixture in the budget but the district said they can not make the longevity supplement a component of the budget.

Albert said she has hope that we can get this done quickly. She has asked to reconvene the salary committee members one final time to come to the table and talk about the wording of the Memorandum of Understanding that they are trying to put into place to memorialize the work that's been done. Albert said that themembers are scheduled to meet this Thursday, May 23.

When asked about the possible departure of School Superintendent Tom Russell, Albert said that since the work of the salary schedule committee is not complete, it is a distraction from the union working on how to move Volusia County Schools forward.