07/08/2026
IRCEA STATEMENT: SAME STATE PLAN, SAME PROBLEMS HERE
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla., July 2, 2026 — The Education Association of St. Lucie isn't the only local union sounding the alarm on Florida's Teacher Salary Increase Allocation. The Indian River County Education Association (IRCEA) begins TSIA negotiations with the School District of Indian River County (SDIRC) on July 14, but the numbers are already locked in by the state budget and the bill as written. We expect the same problems EASL is raising in St. Lucie.
TSIA raises this year are reserved for full-time classroom teachers with at least ten years of experience in a Florida public school. That leaves out every teacher without a classroom roster — our guidance counselors, media specialists, instructional coaches, and other instructional personnel who serve students every day without a class period of their own. It also leaves out classroom teachers who haven't yet reached ten years in Florida public education — and the bill doesn't fund a path for them either; the money simply isn't there, regardless of when they hit that mark. It also leaves out our colleagues across SDIRC — the paraprofessionals, front office staff, custodians, and food service workers who keep our schools running, and who we stand with as fellow educators. The state funded a raise for some of us. It funded none at all for the rest. In Indian River County, that means 537 of our 957 instructional employees — 56 percent — do not qualify, whether for lack of a classroom roster, lack of ten years' experience in Florida public education, or both. Only 420 do.
"We're a top-five district with an A grade because of all our staff including the great majority that this plan leaves out," said Jennifer Freeland, President of the Indian River County Education Association. "SDIRC wants to pay us more. They just weren't given the funding to do it. That's not an SDIRC failure. That's Tallahassee."
Like EASL, IRCEA will bargain in good faith within the constraints Tallahassee created. But our members and our community deserve to understand where those constraints came from. This isn't an SDIRC problem or a union problem. It's a state problem.
Some of the legislators who wrote this plan are on the ballot this fall. We'd ask every educator, every support professional, and every parent in Indian River County to remember who chose to leave 537 of us behind.
Every educator who serves our students deserves respect — and respect includes pay.
Florida’s TSIA plan leaves too many educators behind, including many teachers and education support professionals who keep our schools running every day.
EASL will continue fighting for fair pay, strong public schools, and the students and educators of St. Lucie County.
We are worth a raise.
