Florida Senate - 2017                                     SB 238
       
       
        
       By Senator Rader
       
       29-00429-17                                            2017238__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to instructional personnel salaries;
    3         creating s. 1012.052, F.S.; providing a short title;
    4         requiring the Legislature to fund the Florida
    5         Education Finance Program at a level that ensures a
    6         guaranteed minimum annual starting salary for
    7         instructional personnel; specifying a statewide
    8         minimum salary for all instructional personnel for the
    9         2017-2018 fiscal year; requiring the Department of
   10         Education to annually adjust the statewide minimum
   11         annual starting salary; providing requirements for
   12         calculating such adjustment; requiring district school
   13         boards to adjust the minimum annual starting salary
   14         determined by the department by applying the district
   15         cost differentials; providing that such adjustment may
   16         not 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  at a level that ensures 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 2017-2018 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  annual starting salary then in force by the rate of inflation
   40  for the 12-month period ending September 1. In making this
   41  adjusted statewide minimum annual starting salary calculation,
   42  the department shall use the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage
   43  Earners and Clerical Workers, not seasonally adjusted, for the
   44  South Region or a successor index as calculated by the United
   45  States Department of Labor.
   46         (b) Each district school board shall adjust the statewide
   47  minimum annual starting salary, as calculated by the department,
   48  by 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, 2017.