Florida Senate - 2026 SB 1720
By Senator Calatayud
38-01245-26 20261720__
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 employees with direct student contact may receive
5 cost-of-living salary adjustments; providing that such
6 adjustments do not preclude district school boards
7 from providing certain other salary adjustments;
8 deleting a limitation on cost-of-living salary
9 adjustments; revising the requirement for the use of
10 advanced degrees when setting salary schedules for
11 instructional personnel and school administrators;
12 deleting certain limitations for salary adjustments
13 under the performance salary schedule; providing an
14 effective 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 shall be considered compensation under
32 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 the schedule or schedules used
43 to provide the base salary for district school board personnel.
44 f. “School administrator” means a school administrator as
45 defined in s. 1012.01(3)(c).
46 g. “Supplement” means an annual addition to the base salary
47 for the term of the negotiated supplement as long as the
48 employee continues his or her employment for the purpose of the
49 supplement. A supplement does not become part of the employee’s
50 continuing base salary but shall be considered compensation
51 under s. 121.021(22).
52 2. Cost-of-living adjustment.—A district school board may
53 provide a cost-of-living salary adjustment to employees with
54 direct student contact, including, but not limited to,
55 instructional personnel as defined in s. 1012.01(2),
56 noninstructional personnel, and school administrators as defined
57 in s. 1012.01(3)(c), if the adjustment:
58 a. does not discriminate among comparable classes of
59 employees based upon the salary schedule under which they are
60 compensated. A cost-of-living adjustment does not preclude a
61 district school board from providing other salary adjustments
62 from additional funding sources, including categorical funding
63 and the classroom teacher and other instructional personnel
64 salary increase under s. 1011.62(14) and supplemental funding
65 sources, including grants.
66 b. Does not exceed 50 percent of the annual adjustment
67 provided to instructional personnel rated as effective.
68 3. Advanced degrees.—A district school board may use
69 advanced degrees in setting a salary schedule for instructional
70 personnel or school administrators if the advanced degree is
71 held in the individual’s area of certification, a field related
72 to his or her teaching assignment, or a related field of study.
73 For purposes of the salary schedule, an advanced degree may
74 include a master’s degree or higher in the individual’s area of
75 certification or teaching assignment, or an advanced degree in
76 another field with a minimum of 18 graduate semester hours
77 related to the individual’s area of certification or teaching
78 assignment.
79 4. Grandfathered salary schedule.—
80 a. The district school board shall adopt a salary schedule
81 or salary schedules to be used as the basis for paying all
82 school employees hired before July 1, 2014. Instructional
83 personnel on annual contract as of July 1, 2014, shall be placed
84 on the performance salary schedule adopted under subparagraph 5.
85 Instructional personnel on continuing contract or professional
86 service contract may opt into the performance salary schedule if
87 the employee relinquishes such contract and agrees to be
88 employed on an annual contract under s. 1012.335. Such an
89 employee shall be placed on the performance salary schedule and
90 may not return to continuing contract or professional service
91 contract status. Any employee who opts into the performance
92 salary schedule may not return to the grandfathered salary
93 schedule.
94 b. In determining the grandfathered salary schedule for
95 instructional personnel, a district school board must base a
96 portion of each employee’s compensation upon performance
97 demonstrated under s. 1012.34 and shall provide differentiated
98 pay for both instructional personnel and school administrators
99 based upon district-determined factors, including, but not
100 limited to, additional responsibilities, school demographics,
101 high-demand teacher needs areas, advanced degrees, and level of
102 job performance difficulties.
103 5. Performance salary schedule.—By July 1, 2014, The
104 district school board shall adopt a performance salary schedule
105 that provides annual salary adjustments for instructional
106 personnel and school administrators based upon performance
107 determined under s. 1012.34. Employees hired on or after July 1,
108 2014, or employees who choose to move from the grandfathered
109 salary schedule to the performance salary schedule shall be
110 compensated pursuant to the performance salary schedule once
111 they have received the appropriate performance evaluation for
112 this purpose.
113 a. Base salary.—The base salary shall be established as
114 follows:
115 (I) The base salary for instructional personnel or school
116 administrators who opt into the performance salary schedule
117 shall be the salary paid in the prior year, including
118 adjustments only.
119 (II) Instructional personnel or school administrators new
120 to the district, returning to the district after a break in
121 service without an authorized leave of absence, or appointed for
122 the first time to a position in the district in the capacity of
123 instructional personnel or school administrator shall be placed
124 on the performance salary schedule.
125 b. Salary adjustments.—Salary adjustments for highly
126 effective or effective performance shall be established as
127 follows:
128 (I) The annual salary adjustment under the performance
129 salary schedule for an employee rated as highly effective must
130 be at least 25 percent greater than the highest annual salary
131 adjustment available to an employee of the same classification
132 through any other salary schedule adopted by the district.
133 (II) The annual salary adjustment under the performance
134 salary schedule for an employee rated as effective must be equal
135 to at least 50 percent and no more than 75 percent of the annual
136 adjustment provided for a highly effective employee of the same
137 classification.
138 (III) A salary schedule shall not provide An annual salary
139 adjustment shall only be provided for an employee who receives a
140 rating of other than highly effective or effective for the year.
141 c. Salary supplements.—In addition to the salary
142 adjustments, each district school board shall provide for salary
143 supplements for activities that must include, but are not
144 limited to:
145 (I) Assignment to a Title I eligible school.
146 (II) Assignment to a school that earned a grade of “F” or
147 three consecutive grades of “D” pursuant to s. 1008.34 such that
148 the supplement remains in force for at least 1 year following
149 improved performance in that school.
150 (III) Certification and teaching in high-demand teacher
151 needs areas. Statewide high-demand teacher needs areas shall be
152 identified by the State Board of Education under s. 1012.07.
153 However, the district school board may identify other areas of
154 high-demand needs within the school district for purposes of
155 this sub-sub-subparagraph and may remove areas identified by the
156 state board which do not apply within the school district.
157 (IV) Assignment of additional academic responsibilities.
158
159 If budget constraints in any given year limit a district school
160 board’s ability to fully fund all adopted salary schedules, the
161 performance salary schedule shall not be reduced on the basis of
162 total cost or the value of individual awards in a manner that is
163 proportionally greater than reductions to any other salary
164 schedules adopted by the district. Any compensation for
165 longevity of service awarded to instructional personnel who are
166 on any other salary schedule must be included in calculating the
167 salary adjustments required by sub-subparagraph b.
168 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.