Florida teachers plan to march on the state Capitol Monday when lawmakers begin their 2020 legislative session to demand more money for schools and teachers.

The Florida Education Association says it will bus thousands of teachers, parents and public education supporters to Tallahassee for a march on the Capitol as state senators discuss how to boost pay for classroom instructors. Florida ranks among the bottom ten states in teacher pay.

A proposed bill to raise teachers’ pay in Florida sounds good on paper, boasting the chance to raise the state’s status from the 26th in the nation for starting teacher salaries to the second highest. But educators say the plan has holes, especially when it comes to how it will affect veteran teachers.

According to DeSantis, the proposed bill to be addressed during the 2020 legislative session would boost minimum salaries, not the overall average pay.
The governor says this call was intentional and would affect “60 percent of teachers.”

The average teacher salary in the 2017-2018 school year, topped $48,000, Florida state records show. DeSantis’ proposal would raise teachers’ starting salary from around $37,600 to $47,500.

But as the proposal stands right now, it doesn’t address what the increase means for longtime teachers who already make more than the potential new rate.