More than 4,500 Polk County Public Schools teachers, paraeducators and educational support personnel will have a much larger-than-usual paycheck on Thursday.
The Polk Education Association teachers’ union and Polk County Public Schools have settled a class-action grievance the union filed on Feb. 1, with teachers finally getting the negotiated pay raise retroactive to July 1.
Documentation provided by PEA President Stephanie Yocum shows PCPS Associate Superintendent of Human Resources Brian Warren ruled that “the years of experience for purposes of calculating salary were not calculated based on the employee start date, but data was pulled from the employee ‘display experience’ screen, which had not been updated.” The mistake affected about half of all the members of the bargaining unit — or about 4,500 employees.
There is a complicated calculation for PCPS teacher pay, depending on their years’ of service, their level of education and if they chose to remain under an old system of pay increases. Bonus calculations involve multiple factors, including overall student performance and the increased performance of the lowest level of learners.
“It’s resolved!” Yocum said in an email Tuesday. “They admitted they moved employees in the first pay level incorrectly! The resolution was a system-wide update with any retro pay that was owed because of the mess up paid out on the end-of-month check on Thursday!”
Yocum said in a press release regarding the grievance on Feb. 1 that the miscalculation resulted “in underpayments since Dec. 22, 2023. The contract was duly-ratified by the board on Oct. 24, that has, to-date, given the district 100 days and 6 pay cycles to place staff on their new levels and ensure their paychecks are correct.”
She said staff began submitting work tickets to the district’s payroll department as early as mid-December when the staff portal was initially updated.
“Another slew of tickets were submitted after the Dec. 22 paychecks were deposited and paystubs verified the incorrect placements,” she wrote. “The district was aware of errors in their personnel data, going so far as to place a banner within the staff payroll system that stated, ‘Please disregard the total years of service calculation as we are working to update this field.’”
PEA represents about 9,000 employees. Another set of employees — custodians, bus drivers, and maintenance crews — is represented by the Association of Florida State County and Municipal Employees.
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