$50,000 Minimum Pay for Florida Teachers Pitched

A Florida Senator thinks it’s high time teachers brought home a little more cash.

With that in mind, Sen. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, filed a bill Wednesday that would raise the minimum starting salary for teachers across the state to $50,000. As it stands right now, the average teacher salary is $47,950, according to the Bradenton Herald. That figure, however, is an average for all teachers, regardless of time on the job, and not necessarily starting pay.

In the bill, Soto explained the minimum is needed to “attract and retain instructional personnel.” He calls for the state Legislature to fund the Florida Education Finance Program to ensure that teachers make at least the guaranteed minimum. The bill also calls for annual adjustments based on inflation.

If approved, the bill would go into effect July 1, 2016. It does not currently have a companion in the Florida House.

Soto’s bill would dramatically raise starting pay in Manatee and other Bay area counties. The starting pay in Manatee is currently at $38,000, according to the Herald.

Average salaries for teachers in the Tampa Bay area fall below that minimum, documents from the Florida Department of Education show. Those documents indicate only Hillsborough and Sarasota counties had average salaries during the 2014-15 school year that bested what Soto would like to see put in place as a beginning salary. The state says average salaries in 2014-15 were:

• Hillsborough - $50,192
• Pasco - $43,555
• Pinellas - $47,041
• Sarasota - $57,026
• Manatee - $47,387

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