MANATEE COUNTY – Public school workers could be soon seeing a larger paycheck in Manatee County.
“If you look at where we were a couple years ago, we were in the 14 dollar range,” said Deputy Superintendent of the Manatee County School District, Doug Wagner.
Members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have ratified an agreement with the School District of Manatee County for base salary increases for the 2021-2022 school year.
“Right now it’s slated to be voted on by the school board, February 8th of this school year and once that happens the raises would be implemented and take place retroactive meaning back to the beginning of the school year,” said Wagner.
This would include raises for transportation, food service, custodial, and maintenance workers. There would also be a $1,000 retention bonus for those have been employed by the district since Jan. 1 2021.
“We’re trying to catch up and ensure that this group of employees realizes that they are important as well and essential workers and we need them in our school system and their work with us matters, and that’s why we’re matching what the governor has done in the past for teachers and principals,” said Wagner.
With the increase in wages, the School district hopes to fill much needed vacancies, which include bus drivers, and assistant bus drivers, custodians, and food service workers.
“Everybody is working as hard as they can to ensure our schools are functioning but we still have a lot of openings and we feel like this increase is very substantial to our employees,” said Wagner.
The total cost of this package is more than $2.2 million.
A tentative agreement was reached between the district and AFSCME in late December 2021. AFSCME members ratified the agreement last Saturday.
For more information on how to apply to any of the open positions with the school district, you can their website here.
