Special Magistrate Robert Hoffman today recommended Santa Rosa County School Board accept the Santa Rosa Professional Educators’ salary increase proposal of approximately $3.3 million with retroactive pay back to July 1, 2016.
The parties had reached an impasse after the school district rejected the union’s roughly 2.77-percent pay hike proposal, offering just 1.8 percent or $2.4 million.
Chavers thanked SRPE’s bargaining team members and legal counsel. “Special thanks go to our negotiation budget analyst David Godwin, whose testimony the magistrate found to be “perhaps the most insightful and significant testimony at this hearing,” said Chavers.
According to Chavers, the next step in the process is a legislative hearing before the school board.
“We hope the school board will honor the magistrate’s salary and retro-pay recommendations,” she said.
