Florida lawmakers from Palm Beach County want to raise teacher starting salaries to $65,000.

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday unveiled his 2023 budget proposal, which includes a record $26 billion for K-12 education.

About $1 billion is expected to go directly to pay teachers, but critics say it’s not enough to move Florida out of the top three in the nation for average teacher salaries.

Meanwhile, thousands of teaching positions remain vacant across the state.

The minimum base salary for teachers in Florida is now around $48,000. Some of our local legislators want this amount to jump to $65,000 and believe that this is a necessary and realistic target.

SPECIAL COATING: Education

“Right now, teachers are not just teachers. They are therapists. They are parents. And they are being counted right now.

Edmonds is preparing for his first legislative session, having already filed “The Law for the Salvation of Our Teachers” increase the teacher’s minimum wage by more than $10,000.

“I don’t know if we want to call it a state of emergency with rising inflation, gas, food and rent. the foundation is not collapsing,” Edmonds said.

Edmonds’ proposal would raise starting salaries even higher than the current average teacher salary in the state, which is just over $51,000, according to the latest figures from the Florida Department of Education.

“If we’re going to raise starting salaries to $65,000, then we need to increase salaries across the board at a commensurate level to make it fair,” said Palm Beach Central High School teacher Scott Houchins.

Hochins supports raising teachers’ salaries but doesn’t want his experience to be left out.

“$65,000 is a higher base salary than what I currently have, so it would be kind of a slap in the face for veteran teachers, especially those of us who have been teaching for 20 to 25 years, if we weren’t looking at it. ” Huchins said.

Edmonds said the goal is to lift everyone in the class.

“This bill does not exclude our experienced teachers, which is a blessing,” Edmonds said. “This will allow them to receive all the bonuses and incentives that they once had before. So that would really allow them to get a huge boost and not be on the same totem pole as someone who just walked in.”

DeSantis recently announced its education platform, which includes $1 billion to be donated to school districts to pay teachers.

But Edmonds said it wasn’t enough.

“We do move pennies. And if you include taxes, it’s really not an increase,” Edmonds said. “I have seen [DeSantis] do amazing things for our first responders, our law enforcement, and it’s time to reward those who care about our children, and these are our teachers.”

State Senator Lori Berman, D-Boca Raton, filed a companion bill in the Senate. The legislative session begins in early March.

For more information on teacher salaries in the Palm Beach County School District, Click here.

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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