What You're Voting On

The 2026 Tentative Agreements at a Glance

IRCEA & School District of Indian River County

Between January and July 2026, your bargaining team reached a package of tentative agreements (TAs) with the District, each signed by both chief negotiators. Here is what they do. ("MBU" means Member of the Bargaining Unit — that's you.)

What changes for your day-to-day:

• This year's salary increase is experience-based and goes into base pay — $1,325 or $2,350, counting toward retirement, not tied to your evaluation rating

• The state funded only veteran classroom teachers; IRCEA negotiated District funding for the same $2,350 for veteran non-classroom members and $1,325 for everyone under ten years

• Every MBU must be provided a consistent, scheduled duty-free lunch that can't be interrupted or reassigned absent a declared emergency — the biggest gain for members without a classroom roster

• Comp time rules rewritten so they can be applied; all work outside the contractual day is compensated

• $30 planning coverage pay when an IEP meeting falls during your planning period

• Mileage reimbursement and travel time between worksites

• Supplement payment timing in the contract — first installment on the final regular October paycheck

• Collaborative planning protected during three assessment periods and both conference weeks

• "Prep" defined for the first time, and "will have" is now "is assigned"

• Your school sets its own meeting day before students arrive

• Media centers staffed by certified personnel, critical-shortage exception removed

• Grievance deadlines measured in your working days, with a new Superintendent review before arbitration

Know before you vote:

• Health insurance premiums rise, and nobody is pretending otherwise. The District's self-insured fund was heading below safe harbor and had to be corrected. The committee brought a projected 110% increase far down, and the District's contribution held — but the largest group of members still pays $600 more per year, and family tiers rise more. See Section 2.

• Comp time must be used within the school year it's earned — as it always has been for salaried, exempt employees. The TA writes that down; the new part is a clear way to take the time, in 3.75-hour increments with a guest educator.

• Comp time is not automatically earned for routine non-instructional or supervisory duties — it must be specifically assigned and pre-approved.

• Letters of Concern are not discipline, but may be retained and considered if similar conduct comes up later. Contact your building representative if you receive one.

• Honors and regular sections of the same course count as a single prep, and produce a single lesson plan.

• The salary structure is set annually. How raises are delivered depends on the legislative session — a COLA one year, an experience-based adjustment the next. This year's mechanism is not a promise about next year's.

The rest of this guide explains each change in detail — what the old language said, what the new language does, and why.

The Details

IRCEA and the District use interest-based bargaining. Rather than trading demands, both sides work toward language that serves the interests behind them — something that benefits both parties, or that both can live with. Much of this package clarifies provisions that were confusing, hard to apply, or widely misread. Clearer language helps whoever was disadvantaged by the confusion, and in several of these sections that was us.

1. YOUR PAY

Salary: an experience-based increase added to base pay

(Appendix A1 — signed 7/14/2026)

This is the largest financial item in the package.

How salary increases work here changes from year to year, driven by what the Legislature allocates each session and what state statute requires. Last year the increase came as a Cost of Living Adjustment plus Performance Pay. This year it comes as an experience-based adjustment. Expect a different mechanism again next year.

Effective July 1, 2026, every eligible MBU hired on or before June 30, 2026 receives a salary adjustment added to base pay:

CategoryAdjustmentFunded byFewer than 10 verified years of teaching experience$1,325District10+ years in Florida (non-classroom or non-FEFP)$2,350District10+ years classroom teaching in Florida funded through FEFP$2,350TSIA

The Funding column matters. The state's Teacher Salary Increase Allocation paid only for veteran teachers with a classroom roster — the third row. Your bargaining team negotiated District funding for the two groups the state left out: veteran teachers in non-classroom or non-FEFP roles receive the same $2,350 as their classroom colleagues, and teachers under ten years receive $1,325. Without that, a decade of service in a non-FEFP role would have counted for nothing this cycle, and members under ten years would have received no increase at all.

The money goes into base salary. Last year's Performance Pay was a performance-based raise, not a one-time bonus — it went to base, and so does this. The TA states the adjustment "shall become a continuing part of the employee's salary," and it counts for Florida Retirement System purposes, subject to FRS rules and applicable law. Years of experience are verified the same way the District already does for salary placement (Article 19.1 and Appendix A1).

What changes is the basis for the amount:

Last yearThis yearDetermined byYour evaluation ratingVerified years of experienceAmounts$1,500 HE / $1,125 E (annual contract); $1,200 / $900 (PSC); plus $562.50 COLA for all$1,325 under 10 years; $2,350 at 10 or moreConditionRated Effective or Highly EffectiveNone tied to evaluation

Ten years is the dividing line. Each year's adjustment stays in base, so this year's amount builds on what you already have. The size of the annual increase depends on what the state funds and what the District agrees to add.

The TA notes these figures reflect the current proposal model and will be reconciled against final District payroll, eligibility, and benefits data before implementation.

Supplement payment timing

(Article 19, Supplemental Pay Schedule — signed 7/14/2026)

If you select installment payments instead of a lump sum, the first installment is paid on the final regular paycheck in October. Lump-sum payments are paid as chosen on the supplement form. Payment timing is now in the contract rather than left to practice. The supplement amounts in Appendix A3 are not changed — those rates were raised in an earlier contract year and carry forward.

IEP meetings during your planning period are paid

(Article 3.2H — signed 1/30/2026)

When an IEP meeting is scheduled during your planning period, you are eligible for $30.00 of planning coverage pay — the same rate as class coverage. Coverage should still be provided so you can attend, IEP meetings are still scheduled during contracted hours, and a rotational system still prevents the same general education teachers from being scheduled repeatedly.

Mileage between worksites

(Article 3.1(I), Travel During Workday — signed 2/10/2026)

New provision. If the District requires you to travel between two or more assigned worksites during your workday, the travel is authorized District business. You are reimbursed for mileage in excess of your normal commute, at the rate set by District policy and Florida Statute 112.061, and adequate time is allotted for the travel. Driving from home to your first site, or from your last site home, is not covered. Reimbursement follows District travel documentation procedures.

2. YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE

(Health Insurance TA — signed 7/14/2026)

The District is self-insured: claims are paid from a District fund that must by law hold a minimum reserve, called safe harbor. The fund was falling below that line, so more money has to go in. Premium rates and plan designs are not negotiated — IRCEA bargains only the District's contribution — but our members sit on the health insurance committee, where months of work brought a projected 110% increase down to the figures below.

Under the signed TA, the District's contribution holds at $885.00 per month on every plan and tier, and the plans consolidate (5770 and 5772 become 5776; 5774 becomes 5778) for the plan year October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027. The largest group of members — Employee Only on 5774 — pays $50 more per month. Family and spouse tiers rise more, roughly $100 to $457 depending on the plan you're leaving. The full rate table is in the signed Health Insurance TA; check your own tier there and weigh it against the salary adjustment in Section 1.

Nobody on your bargaining team is calling this good news — for members on family plans these numbers are painful, and we know it. The correction was required by law; what could be fought was the size, and it was. This is the least bad version of a hard year, and health insurance stays at the top of our priorities.

3. YOUR TIME

Duty-free lunch must be scheduled and protected

(Article 3.1E — signed 7/14/2026)

The old sentence said MBUs "shall have" a 30-minute duty-free lunch except in an emergency. The new language:

All MBUs shall be provided a consistent and reasonably scheduled thirty (30) minute duty-free lunch period. The scheduled duty-free lunch period shall not be interrupted or reassigned except in the event of an emergency declared by the principal or the principal's designee.

For classroom teachers, whose lunch is built into the bell schedule, this mainly protects it from being interrupted or reassigned. The larger change is for MBUs without a classroom roster — counselors, coaches, resource and specialist positions, teachers on assignment — whose day isn't built around a bell schedule. Many had no scheduled lunch at all. "Provided" means a consistent, scheduled lunch now has to exist for every MBU, not just those whose schedule produced one automatically.

The same TA clarifies that the 25-hour weekly FEFP instruction maximum applies to classroom teachers (Article 3.1D).

Administrative meetings: your school picks the day

(Article 3.4A — signed 2/10/2026, updated 3/11/2026)

"On Wednesday" is struck from the contract. Each school site sets its own meeting day, decided before the first day for students. When no meeting is scheduled, the time may be used for individual planning, or you may choose to follow the regular workday under 3.1B for that week — staying was never actually required, but the old wording was easy to misread, and this settles it. Agendas are still provided in advance.

Collaborative planning: protected windows

(Article 3.2D — signed 1/30/2026)

Collaborative planning cannot be scheduled during three designated assessment periods each school year, chosen jointly by SDIRC and IRCEA before the first day of school, or during the fall and spring conference weeks.

Preps are now defined

(Article 3.2E — signed 4/20/2026)

The old contract said administrators will make every effort to see that no MBU "will have" more than three preps per semester. It now reads that no MBU "is assigned" more than three. Both are best-effort standards, and three can still be exceeded by mutual agreement between the MBU and Administration — but "is assigned" speaks to how administration builds schedules, not to what a teacher ends up holding.

Also new: a "prep" is defined as the time and material necessary to create a lesson for any given subject; MBUs are required to have only one lesson plan per prep, regardless of grade level or course level; and courses sharing the same primary content and state standards count as a single prep — Algebra 1 and Algebra 1 Honors count once, not twice. The limit does not apply to classroom teachers delivering integrated instruction across the full academic day.

The gain is definition. "Prep" appeared in the contract for years without being defined, which made the three-prep limit hard to apply. A teacher with regular and honors sections of the same course now has one prep and submits one lesson plan for both.

4. YOUR JOB & YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Hardship process for consolidation

(Memorandum of Understanding — signed 2/10/2026)

This MOU covers the Operational Innovation Initiative — the combining, consolidation, or reorganization of school sites during 2026-2027, which drove this summer's reassignments. It provides equitable consideration for MBUs who experience significant hardship as a result.

A hardship is an extraordinary circumstance creating a substantial and verifiable difficulty resulting from reassignment or relocation: a documented medical condition for you or an immediate family member, a significant increase in commuting distance or time, childcare or eldercare responsibilities severely impacted, or other comparable circumstances the District and Association deem valid.

You receive the MOU language when formally notified of reassignment and submit a written request with documentation within 10 working days. A Joint Hardship Review Committee — equal numbers of District and IRCEA appointees — reviews it and makes a recommendation to the Superintendent within 10 working days. The Superintendent decides; the MOU sets no deadline for that decision. The District shall not deny a request arbitrarily or capriciously. If approved, the District may provide an accommodation as appropriate and feasible: another available position you are qualified for, temporary placement pending a permanent vacancy, or another reasonable accommodation agreed on with Administration.

Granting or denying a request sets no past practice or precedent, and any future consolidation requires this MOU to be negotiated or re-established.

Involuntary transfers

(Article 6.1C — signed 6/3/2026)

An involuntary transfer is now defined: an employer-initiated transfer to a different school or worksite than where you currently work. Before an MBU is involuntarily transferred, requests for voluntary transfers at that specific site will be considered.

The old language said voluntary requests "shall be considered before involuntary transfers are implemented," which was vague about which requests and when. The new wording points at the specific site, so both sides know what the step requires. Note that it requires those requests to be considered — not that a volunteer be transferred in place of someone else.

Media centers must be staffed

(Article 3.5 — signed 3/11/2026)

The section is renamed "Media Centers," and the exception allowing schools to go unstaffed when library/media specialists were "identified as a critical shortage area" is removed. School Media Centers will be staffed by certified personnel at all levels. The assignment is recognized as an instructional position responsible for managing the media center's educational program and supporting teaching, learning, literacy, and information access across the curriculum, with relevant professional learning provided. Principals must still make every effort for MBUs assigned to the Media Center to be relieved of extra duties so centers can open before and after school.

5. AFTER-HOURS WORK & COMP TIME

(Article 14.2K — signed 4/20/2026)

This section was rewritten more extensively than any other. The old version was hard to apply, and the changes aim to make it usable.

The old language set a ceiling of seven hours per year on required work outside the 7.5-hour contract day, counted the Article 13.1 orientation and Open House hours inside that ceiling, and separately stated that all work outside the contractual day would be compensated. Those pieces did not fit together, and in practice it was difficult to say what was owed for what. The new language removes the ceiling and its cross-reference and leaves one rule: all work outside the regular contractual day shall be compensated, in accordance with District-approved methods, which may include monetary compensation or pre-approved comp time.

Orientation and Open House are unchanged — up to two hours each under Article 13.1, still contractual requirements.

The rest of the section:

• Weekends and holidays still cannot be required. Voluntary participation must be pre-approved by the administrator and compensated under this section.

• Duties beyond the contractual workday must be specifically assigned and pre-approved to qualify for compensation or comp time. Comp time is not automatically earned for routine non-instructional or supervisory duties.

• If a guest educator is requested, comp time is used in 3.75-hour increments — half a workday. It is treated the same as personal or sick time and is not charged against your leave (Article 14.2C). The old language promised flex time "at your discretion" without explaining how to actually take a day.

• Comp time must be used by the final teacher workday of the year it's earned, and unused time is forfeited rather than converted to cash. Neither of these is new — as salaried, exempt employees, comp time never carried across years and never cashed out. The TA writes those rules down so there's no argument later. Use is requested in advance and approved by your supervisor based on operational needs.

• A principal may adjust your schedule within the same work week for occasional, District-directed activities, provided the adjustment does not result in the accrual of comp time unless both parties agree.

• The District may pay a stipend or hourly rate instead of comp time, unless both sides agree otherwise.

What's actually new here is usability: the rules are finally written down, and the 3.75-hour increments give you a real way to take the time. Plan to use it before the last teacher workday — that's how it has always worked, but now it's on paper.

One item to note: the old contract guaranteed pay or flex time for volunteering for duty during your duty-free lunch. That sentence was removed. Duty pay remains covered under Article 3.2F, which pays you when a duty session runs over 20 minutes and pays your hourly rate for duties beyond your one assigned session per week.

6. YOUR RIGHTS & DUE PROCESS

Discipline, and the new "Letter of Concern"

(Article 5.1 — signed 6/3/2026)

The old paragraph was short and vague. The replacement:

• Discipline may be progressive and, depending on circumstances, may include a documented verbal reprimand, written reprimand, suspension, or termination.

• The level of discipline shall be based on the severity of the misconduct, your prior disciplinary record, and other relevant factors.

• The District may still impose more severe discipline, up to termination, for serious misconduct on a first offense.

• For less serious offenses, the District may issue a Letter of Concern. It is not disciplinary in nature, but it may be maintained by the District and considered in determining corrective action or discipline for future similar misconduct.

Tying the level of discipline to severity and prior record is a real standard, and it gives you grounds if a response seems out of proportion. Understand the Letter of Concern for what it is: not discipline, so it carries no disciplinary procedures — but it can be retained and considered if similar conduct comes up later. Contact your building representative if you receive one.

The grievance process

(Article 17.5 — signed 4/20/2026 and 6/3/2026)

The informal discussion is no longer required. You previously had to raise the matter with your principal within 15 workdays before filing anything; now you can file a formal Level One grievance directly. Where you and your principal or supervisor mutually agree, you may waive the Informal Discussion and/or Level One entirely and begin at Level Two, on a written form signed by both of you.

All deadlines are counted in working days of the MBU — your clock runs only on days you actually work. Summer, breaks, and holidays do not count against a deadline. This applies through the entire process, including arbitration.

StepYour deadlineTheir deadlineFile Level One20 working days—Level One conference—5 working daysLevel One written response—5 working days after the conferenceMove to Level Two10 working days—Level Two conference and written decision—10 working daysAppeal to Level Three10 working days—Level Three decision—10 working days

(All entries are working days of the MBU.)

Your Level One clock starts when you receive discipline or upon knowledge of an alleged incident of contractual violation. You may have an IRCEA representative at the Level One conference if you tell your supervisor in advance.

Level Three is new: a Superintendent Review before arbitration. The Superintendent or designee reviews the full record. Your written appeal must include the original grievance, all prior written decisions, a clear statement of the issues, the specific contract provisions alleged to have been violated, and the remedy sought — missing documentation may delay or dismiss the appeal. A conference is held, limited to issues and evidence already presented, and no new claims may be introduced. The review is limited to whether procedures were followed, whether Level Two was supported by the facts, and whether the Agreement was applied consistently with its terms. The Superintendent's decision is the final decision of the District.

Two rules on timelines: if you miss a deadline, the grievance is considered withdrawn. If the District misses a deadline, the grievance advances to the next level.

If the grievance is not resolved at Level Three, it may move to arbitration. A neutral arbitrator is selected under the process in the contract, hears the case, and issues a written decision within thirty working days of the close of hearings. That decision is final and binding on both parties.

Questions? Contact your building representative or the IRCEA office before you vote.

This summary is a plain-language guide, not the agreements themselves. Where this document and the signed TAs differ, the TA language governs. Full text of all signed TAs is available for your review.