School Board sign creates controversy.
SARASOTA -- Are Sarasota County teachers the best paid in the state?
That question caused a stir last week when teachers picketing outside of the Sarasota County school district's Landings Boulevard administrative headquarters were surprised to find the street-facing sign there touting them as "the best paid teachers in Florida."
After teachers and union leaders took issue with the sign's accuracy and its letters were scrambled by an unknown person, district officials quietly removed the sign between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, Superintendent Todd Bowden said. It was replaced with a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in advance of the federal holiday in his name.
"We had planned a message for MLK weekend, and because the sign had become a point of contention and we did have someone tamper with the sign, we felt it was best," Bowden said. "It was never our intent to poke at or irritate anyone, so we went ahead and, instead of waiting 'till Friday for MLK weekend, we went ahead and put it up."
Despite the sign's removal, Bowden maintained that the statement is, in fact, correct, noting the use of the phrase "best paid" versus "highest paid." He cited state figures that put Sarasota County as the second-highest average teacher salary in the state, topped only by Monroe County. But in Monroe, Bowden said, teachers do not have health insurance covered by the district and they do not receive particular benefits that come with longevity, 3 percent incremental pay raises that accumulate based on years teachers have worked at the district.
According to Florida Department of Education data on teacher salaries in 2016-17, Sarasota County's average salary of $54,524.52 is second only to Monroe's average of $56,868.28. Both salaries are far above the average teacher salary in Florida, which is $47,858.26.
But the numbers differ when it comes to median teacher salaries, meaning the exact middle of all salaries offered, versus average salaries, which can be thrown off by low or high outliers. Among median salaries, Sarasota County is the fifth-highest in the state, at $49,764, compared with the state median of $44,910. But that is almost $10,000 lower than the highest median salary in the state of $57,100, also in Monroe County.
Union leaders also took issue with the timing of the sign, which went up two days before teachers were set to picket against the district's protracted contract negotiations with the teachers' union. Sarasota Classified/Teachers Association executive director Barry Dubin felt the sign's implicit message was problematic.
"Why would you put that up even if it was true?" Dubin said. "Why wouldn't you just say welcome to everybody? What superintendent wouldn't say, 'Welcome teachers and classified staff?'"
To Bowden, the "best paid teachers" statement was a point of pride that he wanted to demonstrate to the community, he said.
"Our community wants our teachers to be well-paid. There have been times where we have tried to shy away from saying we have highly paid instructional personnel, but my personal opinion is it's a point we should be very proud of," Bowden said. "Certainly knowing that that would be a topic of conversation around the community, we wanted to make sure that message was there."
The union and district are scheduled to negotiate again Jan. 29.