Credit: Photo via Orange County Classroom Teachers Association/Facebook

A special magistrate, or administrative judge, for the state has ruled that teachers for Orange County Public Schools shouldn’t be subjected to higher healthcare premiums proposed by the school district during union contract negotiations.

According to the union, the Orange Classroom Teachers Association, the district had proposed increasing the cost of health insurance premiums by 64% on average, effective upon the last day of the union contract on June 30, 2024 — which the union vehemently rejected as “unjustifiable.”

In his ruling on the union’s current impasse with the district over contract negotiations, special magistrate Barry Goldman agreed.

“I do agree with the Union that the proposal to initiate the premium increase on the last day of the contract term is an odd one,” Goldman wrote. “In light of the statutory factors and in order to spare the parties the inevitable controversy, uncertainty, and potential litigation such a change would entail, I recommend no changes to Article XVII, Fringe Benefits, and Appendix C” (i.e., sections pertaining to teachers’ health insurance).

The union, which is also currently just fighting to survive the state’s new anti-union policy, has celebrated this ruling — even if some other contract items the union has advocated for, such as a call to establish Juneteenth as a paid holiday were ruled in the district’s favor.

Employers expect total health benefit cost per employee to rise 5.4% on average this year. OCPS district has proposed increasing the cost of teachers’ health insurance premiums by 64%.

Clinton McCracken, president of OCTA, told Orlando Weekly that they’re calling on the Orange County School Board to accept the special magistrate’s recommendation on the insurance issue, which has been the primary sticking point in this year’s contract talks.

“The biggest issue at impasse is insurance,” McCracken shared over email. After three years of staving off healthcare premium increases, Orange County Public Schools has argued that changes to existing health plans are necessary due to inflationary pressures.

But, as the union has pointed out, a recent analysis from Mercer, polling 1,700 employers nationally, found that employers expected total health benefit cost per employee to rise 5.4% on average this year. In dollars and cents, the union warned that for Orange County educators with family coverage, the average cost for health insurance coverage would increase by more than $1,500 per year under the district’s proposal.

“The irony is glaring — educators dedicate their careers to taking care of other people’s children, but when it comes to their own, they are left to fend for themselves,” the union shared in an October bargaining update.

State Reps. Anna Eskamani and Tom Keen, both Democrats representing parts of Orange and Osceola counties, called on the district to accept the special magistrate’s recommendation.

“I encourage our district to listen to the Special Magistrate and for everyone to support our classroom teachers w/out delay,” Eskamani wrote in a social media post. Keen, who was elected to his seat last month, also said he stands in “full support” with the union.

“Teachers are the backbone of our education system, and it is essential their voices are heard and their well-being is prioritized,” he said in a statement.

Orange Classroom Teachers Association represents roughly 13,600 educators in Orange County Public Schools, and negotiates new contracts with the school district annually.

Last August, the district declared impasse with the union over disagreements during negotiations, which has delayed other things the district and the union have both agreed to, including percentage-based pay raises (the district refused to do this for years, instead offering fixed, flat increases).

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According to the CTA, the district has agreed to a 2% cost of living adjustment (COLA), and even higher salary increases for teachers who receive “effective” and “highly effective” educator evaluations. “Effective” teachers will receive a 5.75% increase and “highly effective” teachers will receive a 7.7% pay increase on top of COLA, if the agreement is ratified.

The union’s also fighting for higher retention supplements for longtime teachers who stay on the job (Orange County, like other Florida school districts, is still facing teacher shortages), and for Juneteenth to become a paid holiday for the roughly 5,5000 employees who work over the summer.

“It says something about what our district stands for,” McCracken, the union president, told Orlando Weekly in August. The special magistrate, however, sided with the district in rejecting this change.

McCracken told Orlando Weekly over email that they don’t currently have any dates set for a return to the bargaining table with the district. “We are waiting to find out from the district whether they will accept or reject the magistrates’ recommendations,” he wrote.

In the meantime, the union is asking community members to contact Orange County School Board members and urge them to accept the recommendations.

“The time is NOW to stand with our teachers union in SUPPORT of this recommendation to end the impasse and move us forward!” wrote State Senate candidate Carlos Guillermo Smith in an X post shared by the union.

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This article appears in Feb 7-13, 2024.

General news reporter for Orlando Weekly, with a focus on state and local government and workers' rights. You can find her bylines in Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, In These Times, and Facing South.