Teacher Raises of $1,200 to $2,400 Go Before St. Johns County School Board Tuesday

The St. Johns County School Board votes Tuesday, Aug. 25 at 9 a.m. on the 2026-2027 collective bargaining agreement with the St. Johns Education Association, the union for the district's teachers, and the deal on the table raises base salaries by $1,200 to $2,400 depending on years of experience. It is the only item on the agenda. The vote sets pay and working conditions for more than 2,500 instructional staff at every public school in and around St. Augustine, and it locks in the largest single cost in a budget funded by state dollars and local property taxes.

The meeting is in the auditorium at the district's administrative complex, 40 Orange Street in St. Augustine, with Webex and call-in access. A school board workshop follows immediately at 10 a.m. in the same room. The district has not listed topics for the workshop.

What the raises look like

According to the district's posted ratification materials, the base salary increase is tiered by experience:

If the board signs off Tuesday, the money shows up on the Oct. 15, 2026 paycheck. That is the date teachers have been watching.

Pay is not the whole package. Over a run of summer bargaining sessions at the Fullerwood Training Center and First Coast Technical College, the district and the union tentatively agreed to a paid parental leave memorandum, a differentiated pay memorandum, supplements for the new teacher cadre and for mentors, dual enrollment supplements, and changes to the contract articles covering working conditions and to transfers and reassignments. They also reached a tentative deal on insurance plan design and premium increases, which is the piece that determines what employees pay out of pocket for coverage next year.

Where the money comes from

The district laid out its compensation offer to the union in July as a mix of the state's Teacher Salary Increase Allocation, district funds, and revenue from the voter-approved school millage. That millage matters here: county voters agreed to tax themselves specifically so the district could put more into employee pay and keep pace with neighboring districts competing for the same teachers.

Enrollment is the pressure behind all of it. The district serves roughly 50,000 students across 44 schools and centers, a number that has climbed year after year as subdivisions filled in along CR 210, in Nocatee, around World Golf Village and south of the city. Every new school needs staff, and staff need to be paid.

How to watch or speak

Both sessions are open to the public in person. To join the 9 a.m. special meeting by phone, call 1-844-992-4726, access code 2861 099 0021, password 77996333. The 10 a.m. workshop uses access code 2861 416 1043 and password 76742227. Webex links for each are posted on the district site, and attendees are allowed to join early. Anyone who wants to make a public comment and runs into technical trouble can call the district's main line at 904-547-7500.

What comes next

Teachers are not the only group waiting. The district has a separate ratification pending with the St. Johns Education Support Professionals Association, which represents paraprofessionals, bus drivers, food service workers and other support staff, and it reached its own tentative deals on compensation, insurance and a safe operator supplement in late July.

Whatever the board approves Tuesday flows into the budget it finalizes next month. Florida law requires the district to hold public hearings on the final budget and the millage rate in September, and personnel costs approved this week will be baked into those numbers. Bargaining documents and the full negotiated agreement are posted on the district's collective bargaining page.

For more from around town, visit St. Augustine Community Website, and tell us what you think about the contract in our Community Forum. You can read more education stories and follow local decisions in government and politics.

Header photo: Ebyabe / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)