Florida Senate - 2016                                     SB 296
       
       
        
       By Senator Soto
       
       
       
       
       
       14-00191-16                                            2016296__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to teacher salaries; creating s.
    3         1012.052, F.S.; providing a short title; requiring the
    4         Legislature to fund the Florida Education Finance
    5         Program at a level that ensures a guaranteed minimum
    6         annual starting salary for instructional personnel;
    7         specifying a statewide minimum salary for all
    8         instructional personnel for the 2016-2017 fiscal year;
    9         requiring the Department of Education to annually
   10         adjust the statewide minimum annual starting salary;
   11         providing requirements for calculating such
   12         adjustment; requiring district school boards to adjust
   13         the minimum annual starting salary determined by the
   14         department by applying the district cost
   15         differentials; providing that such adjustment may not
   16         reduce districts’ minimum annual starting salaries
   17         below the statewide minimum annual starting salary;
   18         providing an effective date.
   19          
   20  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   21  
   22         Section 1. Section 1012.052, Florida Statutes, is created
   23  to read:
   24         1012.052 Instructional personnel salary.—
   25         (1) This section may be cited as the “Florida Teacher Fair
   26  Pay Act.”
   27         (2) In order to attract and retain instructional personnel,
   28  the Legislature shall fund the Florida Education Finance Program
   29  in a manner that ensures that the collectively bargained salary
   30  schedules for instructional personnel are sufficient to
   31  guarantee a minimum annual starting salary while maintaining
   32  adequate funding for all other education program areas and
   33  personnel.
   34         (a) For the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the statewide minimum
   35  salary for all instructional personnel is $50,000. By November 1
   36  of each fiscal year thereafter, the Department of Education
   37  shall calculate an adjusted statewide minimum annual starting
   38  salary for the upcoming fiscal year by increasing the minimum
   39  then in force by the rate of inflation for the 12 months before
   40  September 1. In making this adjusted statewide minimum annual
   41  starting salary calculation, the department shall use the
   42  Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical
   43  Workers, not seasonally adjusted, for the South Region or a
   44  successor index as calculated by the United States Department of
   45  Labor.
   46         (b) Each district school board shall adjust the statewide
   47  minimum annual starting salary calculated by the department by
   48  applying the district cost differential as provided in s.
   49  1011.62(2). However, application of the district cost
   50  differential may not decrease the minimum annual starting salary
   51  in that district below the statewide minimum annual starting
   52  salary.
   53         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.