PCPS Superintendent Fred Heid announced on Friday that the scheduled Dec. 29 paycheck is being moved up to Dec. 22.
Polk County Public Schools teachers, para-educators, and some support staff will receive their pay raises — including a lump sum dating back to July 1 — in time for Christmas, following accusations by the Polk Education Association teachers union this week of broken promises.
“Our mistake was not taking a more proactive position in communicating the outcomes of what was bargained and the timeline that employees can expect to see changes to their paychecks,” Heid said in a district-wide email sent out Friday afternoon. “This will not occur again and going forward we will provide a summary of any resulting language changes and the timeline for payroll changes to be reflected in employee paychecks.”
Heid said during an Oct. 24 School Board work session that if the School Board approved the contract that night, it would allow district officials enough time to process payroll for 14,000 employees prior to winter break.
Increases and bonuses for teachers are given based on years of service, the education level they have attained, if they have achieved National Board certification, whether they teach at a struggling school and if they teach an extra class every day — all of which has to be entered into the payroll system.
Heid said they will meet with leaders of the non-teachers union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and negotiations “will continue (and hopefully finalize) on Tuesday, November 28th. Following that settlement, information regarding raises for non-union staff will be shared.”