Florida Senate - 2026 SB 1216
By Senator Rodriguez
40-00435A-26 20261216__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to public school personnel
3 compensation; amending s. 1012.22, F.S.; providing
4 that cost-of-living adjustments are for employees with
5 direct student contact; providing that such
6 adjustments do not preclude district school boards
7 from providing other adjustments; deleting a
8 limitation on such adjustments; revising the
9 requirement for the use of advanced degrees when
10 setting salary schedules for instructional personnel
11 and school administrators; deleting certain
12 limitations for salary adjustments under the
13 performance salary schedule; providing an effective
14 date.
15
16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
17
18 Section 1. Paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section
19 1012.22, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
20 1012.22 Public school personnel; powers and duties of the
21 district school board.—The district school board shall:
22 (1) Designate positions to be filled, prescribe
23 qualifications for those positions, and provide for the
24 appointment, compensation, promotion, suspension, and dismissal
25 of employees as follows, subject to the requirements of this
26 chapter:
27 (c) Compensation and salary schedules.—
28 1. Definitions.—As used in this paragraph:
29 a. “Adjustment” means an addition to the base salary
30 schedule that is not a bonus and becomes part of the employee’s
31 permanent base salary and is shall be considered compensation
32 under s. 121.021(22).
33 b. “Grandfathered salary schedule” means the salary
34 schedule or schedules adopted by a district school board before
35 July 1, 2014, pursuant to subparagraph 4.
36 c. “Instructional personnel” means instructional personnel
37 as defined in s. 1012.01(2)(a)-(d), excluding substitute
38 teachers.
39 d. “Performance salary schedule” means the salary schedule
40 or schedules adopted by a district school board pursuant to
41 subparagraph 5.
42 e. “Salary schedule” means any the schedule or schedules
43 used to provide the base salary for district school board
44 personnel.
45 f. “School administrator” means a school administrator as
46 defined in s. 1012.01(3)(c).
47 g. “Supplement” means an annual addition to the base salary
48 for the term of the negotiated supplement as long as the
49 employee continues his or her employment for the purpose of the
50 supplement. A supplement does not become part of the employee’s
51 continuing base salary but is shall be considered compensation
52 under s. 121.021(22).
53 2. Cost-of-living adjustment.—A district school board may
54 provide a cost-of-living salary adjustment to district
55 employees, including, but not limited to, instructional
56 personnel as defined in s. 1012.01(2), prekindergarten teachers,
57 noninstructional personnel, and school administrators as defined
58 in s. 1012.01(3)(c), if the adjustment:
59 a. does not discriminate among comparable classes of
60 employees based upon the salary schedule under which they are
61 compensated. A cost-of-living adjustment does not preclude a
62 district school board from providing other salary adjustments
63 from additional funding sources, including categorical funding
64 and the classroom teacher and other instructional personnel
65 salary increase under s. 1011.62(14) and supplemental funding
66 sources, including grants.
67 b. Does not exceed 50 percent of the annual adjustment
68 provided to instructional personnel rated as effective.
69 3. Advanced degrees.—A district school board may use
70 advanced degrees in setting a salary schedule for instructional
71 personnel or school administrators if the advanced degree is
72 held in the individual’s area of certification, a field related
73 to his or her teaching assignment, or a related field of study.
74 For purposes of the salary schedule, an advanced degree may
75 include a master’s degree or higher that is in the area of
76 certification or teaching assignment, or an advanced degree in
77 another field with a minimum of 18 graduate semester hours
78 related to the individual’s area of certification or teaching
79 assignment.
80 4. Grandfathered salary schedule.—
81 a. The district school board shall adopt a salary schedule
82 or salary schedules to be used as the basis for paying all
83 school employees hired before July 1, 2014. Instructional
84 personnel on annual contract as of July 1, 2014, shall be placed
85 on the performance salary schedule adopted under subparagraph 5.
86 Instructional personnel on continuing contract or professional
87 service contract may opt into the performance salary schedule if
88 the employee relinquishes such contract and agrees to be
89 employed on an annual contract under s. 1012.335. Such an
90 employee shall be placed on the performance salary schedule and
91 may not return to continuing contract or professional service
92 contract status. Any employee who opts into the performance
93 salary schedule may not return to the grandfathered salary
94 schedule.
95 b. In determining the grandfathered salary schedule for
96 instructional personnel, a district school board must base a
97 portion of each employee’s compensation upon performance
98 demonstrated under s. 1012.34 and shall provide differentiated
99 pay for both instructional personnel and school administrators
100 based upon district-determined factors, including, but not
101 limited to, additional responsibilities, school demographics,
102 high-demand teacher needs areas, advanced degrees, and level of
103 job performance difficulties.
104 5. Performance salary schedule.—By July 1, 2014, The
105 district school board shall adopt a performance salary schedule
106 that provides annual salary adjustments for instructional
107 personnel and school administrators based upon performance
108 determined under s. 1012.34. Employees hired on or after July 1,
109 2014, or employees who choose to move from the grandfathered
110 salary schedule to the performance salary schedule shall be
111 compensated pursuant to the performance salary schedule once
112 they have received the appropriate performance evaluation for
113 this purpose.
114 a. Base salary.—The base salary shall be established as
115 follows:
116 (I) The base salary for instructional personnel or school
117 administrators who opt into the performance salary schedule
118 shall be the salary paid in the prior year, including
119 adjustments only.
120 (II) Instructional personnel or school administrators new
121 to the district, returning to the district after a break in
122 service without an authorized leave of absence, or appointed for
123 the first time to a position in the district in the capacity of
124 instructional personnel or school administrator shall be placed
125 on the performance salary schedule.
126 b. Salary adjustments.—Salary adjustments for highly
127 effective or effective performance shall be established as
128 follows:
129 (I) The annual salary adjustment under the performance
130 salary schedule for an employee rated as highly effective must
131 be at least 25 percent greater than the highest annual salary
132 adjustment available to an employee of the same classification
133 through any other salary schedule adopted by the district.
134 (II) The annual salary adjustment under the performance
135 salary schedule for an employee rated as effective must be equal
136 to at least 50 percent and no more than 75 percent of the annual
137 adjustment provided for a highly effective employee of the same
138 classification.
139 (III) A salary schedule shall not provide An annual salary
140 adjustment shall only be provided for an employee who receives a
141 rating of other than highly effective or effective for the year.
142 c. Salary supplements.—In addition to the salary
143 adjustments, each district school board shall provide for salary
144 supplements for activities that must include, but are not
145 limited to:
146 (I) Assignment to a Title I eligible school.
147 (II) Assignment to a school that earned a grade of “F” or
148 three consecutive grades of “D” pursuant to s. 1008.34 such that
149 the supplement remains in force for at least 1 year following
150 improved performance in that school.
151 (III) Certification and teaching in high-demand teacher
152 needs areas. Statewide high-demand teacher needs areas shall be
153 identified by the State Board of Education under s. 1012.07.
154 However, the district school board may identify other areas of
155 high-demand needs within the school district for purposes of
156 this sub-sub-subparagraph and may remove areas identified by the
157 state board which do not apply within the school district.
158 (IV) Assignment of additional academic responsibilities.
159
160 If budget constraints in any given year limit a district school
161 board’s ability to fully fund all adopted salary schedules, the
162 performance salary schedule may shall not be reduced on the
163 basis of total cost or the value of individual awards in a
164 manner that is proportionally greater than reductions to any
165 other salary schedules adopted by the district. Any compensation
166 for longevity of service awarded to instructional personnel who
167 are on any other salary schedule must be included in calculating
168 the salary adjustments required by sub-subparagraph b.
169 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.