With a line of public commenters, mostly teachers, calling for Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) to “find the money” for a salary increase that exceeds the cost-of-living increase, the School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) unanimously ratified a contract for education support professionals (ESPs) at its regular meeting on Tuesday. 

The board also approved a contract extension for interim superintendent Kamela Patton, who the board hired in November after suddenly firing former superintendent Shane Andrew. Patton offered to extend her contract, originally meant to last six months, at the board’s last meeting after board members voiced concerns about the tight timeline to conduct a national search for a permanent superintendent. 

Though the ESP bargaining unit of the Alachua County Education Association (ACEA) ratified a salary agreement last week that gives employees a 1.6% raise for the 2024-25 school year, the district’s instructional staff voted down the same contract, saying the salary increase is not enough. 

“What this district is doing is shameful. It’s shameful,” Gainesville High School teacher Joe Waddell told the board on Tuesday. “You hear that cliche often: ‘I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.’ We’re both… we deserve better.” 

At the beginning of the meeting, Patton asked district spokesperson Jackie Johnson to share “informational items” about the instructional bargaining unity, which had not ratified its contract and salary raise for the 2024-25 school year. 

Johnson said the median salary for ACPS teachers in the 2023-24 school year ranked 24^th out of Florida’s 67 counties. She also said ACPS’s median teacher salary is consistently among the top three in North Central Florida, an area she defined as Alachua County and the eight surrounding counties, six of which are considered rural by the Florida Department of Health. 

Johnson also touted that ACPS provides a “robust and comprehensive” benefits package including single medical coverage and life insurance at no cost to employees. 

Addressing early release Wednesdays, which the district reduced to once-a-month occurrences in July 2024, Johnson noted that though the district offices and schools are closed Wednesday for weather, no make-up day is needed because of instructional time added through the reduction of early release Wednesdays. 

The ACEA demanded the return of early release Wednesdays after the instructional bargaining unit voted down its tentative contract and salary agreement a week ago. 

ACEA president Carmen Ward said the memorandum of understanding (MOU) which reduced early release Wednesdays was only written to last until the ratification vote, and since the ratification failed, district practice should revert to the original contract language, which comes with weekly early release Wednesdays. 

Board attorney David Delaney said the MOU lasts until negotiations with the union are finished, and since the ratification vote failed, negotiations are still ongoing. 

Johnson also said the current interim superintendent package, which pays Patton $19,500 each month, plus over $2,000 in allowances, costs the district less than the previous superintendent. 

Johnson was followed at the podium by a slew of teachers, who came to tell the board why the 1.6% raise they were offered is not sufficient. 

Gina Rivera, a teacher at Talbot Elementary School, said the district has disrespected teachers with such a low increase, below both the state and national cost of living increases, which are 2.9% and 2.5% respectively for 2025, according to the Florida Department of Revenue and the Federal Register. 

“I will say that the attempt to give us information at the beginning of this meeting, to somehow make us feel guilty about being here, to somehow be complaining about our job,” Rivera said. “That was also disrespectful… we know what we do every single day, and we know that we work for free quite frequently, and we keep getting more to do for less.” 

Teachers noted salary increases that are far outmatched by cost-of-living increases, with one saying her salary has increased by 16% since 2017, while her rent has gone up 73%. 

They also spoke of countless hours of work outside the workday, as well as instructional materials paid for out of pocket and extra jobs picked up to make ends meet. 

Teachers said ACEA has shown them that there are surpluses left in the district’s fund balance which would allow for a 3.2% raise. 

“I am, again, sympathetic to the constraints of the budget as it is… and yet teachers cannot continue to accept the low offer that is being paid for a twelfth, for a thirteenth, for a fourteenth time,” said Chloe Winant, a teacher at Howard Bishop Middle School. “Even 1% more would make a difference… 1% more would show us that you are fighting for us. Even if the ratification fails, I’d rather see that you are trying than 11 times, ‘no, not trying.’” 

Board Member Tina Certain, during a different portion of the meeting, told attendees that the district is required by the state to retain a fund balance of at least 3% or the Florida Department of Education will take over the district. 

Ward said the failure to ratify is “historical,” saying no one can remember the teachers voting down a ratification in Alachua County. 

“That could be because… this is the worst deal,” Ward said. 

Ward said the interim superintendent’s package only costs less than the last superintendent because of the short amount of time Patton is set to stay at ACPS, but when Board Chair Sarah Rockwell asked for clarification, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Purchasing Gabrielle Jaremczuk said the comparison was made on a month-by-month basis. 

She also said her bargaining specialist found that ACPS spent only $4 million on materials and supplies last year, but had $11 million reserved in that budget line item. 

An addendum for the interim superintendent’s contract was also on Tuesday’s agenda, and the board unanimously approved the addition to the contract, which adds a year to Patton’s time with ACPS. 

During discussion of the contract extension, board members told attendees about how they and their family members have served in education, saying they understand the teachers’ situation. 

But, they said, the district’s finances have been out of control and while board members expressed hope that Patton could help fix that, ACPS is not there yet. 

“I was a teacher, and I know what it’s like to be up at night worrying about your students, and this is next level, the way I’m up at night worrying about 28,000 students and almost 4,000 employees,” Rockwell said. “I cry about it, and I stress about it, so, I hear you. I don’t know how to fix it right now, but I want to fix it.” 

Board members also thanked the citizens for coming out and voicing their concerns, responding to requests for transparency and accountability by proposing workshops, asking for audit reports to be shared publicly, and asking Patton to prepare a comprehensive explanation of the budget. 

“I would just love it if everybody stays engaged, and continues to call us out, because we don’t get better unless you call us out,” Vu said. “These are hard criticisms, but they’re hard truths, really. So please keep bringing that truth to power, to us.”