LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Lee County teachers and the school district remain at an impasse over teacher pay after their 12th bargaining session of the year, with negotiations set to continue in September amid an ongoing unfair labor practice complaint.
The Teachers Association of Lee County and the Lee County School District met on Monday. Still, they failed to reach an agreement on teacher compensation, despite what union leaders described as progress toward the end of the session.
Watch Fort Myers Community Correspondent Miyoshi Price's report of the bargaining session:
"I think we made progress towards the end. We're not there yet," said Kevin Daly, president of the Teachers Association of Lee County.
The ongoing negotiations come as Lee County teachers face salary challenges compared to neighboring districts. Current starting salaries across Southwest Florida districts include:
• Lee County: $50,500 • Hendry County: $51,000
• Collier County: $57,000 • Charlotte County: $58,154
All of these dollar amounts can be found on the school district's salary schedule web page.
"That's not enough to really live," Daly said of Lee County's current starting salary.
Following the meeting, the School District of Lee County issued a statement:
"The School District of Lee County and the Teachers Union of Lee County continued their interest based bargaining on August 25, 2025. The School District has met the union's interest for bereavement, parental leave, and pay increases for compression. We have presented a new proposal that raises starting pay to $54,500, provides a 7% salary increase, in which 2% is in exchange for the School District's interest of teachers spending 45 minutes of additional work time per week, and limits time in meetings. An agreement has not yet been made, but we look forward to our next bargaining session on September 8 where discussion will continue about the proposals at hand."
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Understanding the compensation system
The negotiations involve complex discussions about how teacher experience is calculated. Daly explained the difference between "X" and "L" designations that determine compensation levels.
"X is credible years of experience," Daly said. "L is longevity. That's years you've worked for the school district of Lee County."
For example, a teacher who worked as a paraprofessional for two years before becoming a teacher for 15 years would have an "L" of 17 years with the district, but an "X" of 15 years of teaching experience.
"I think it looks like kind of the idea that the compression offset, or the raises, or whatever you want to call it is going to be tiered based on years with the district," Daly said.
The union is also pushing for better recognition of experience for special instructional staff like nurses and psychologists who worked in their fields outside the school district.
"If you're a nurse for us right here, to four if you work for Lee health, you didn't get those nursing years as experience because you weren't a nurse for the school district," Daly said.
Unfair labor practice complaint
Adding complexity to the negotiations, the Teachers Association of Lee County filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the school district two weeks ago.
"It's kind of a strange thing to file an unfair labor practice while we're at the table," Daly said.
The complaint centers on compensation issues and what the union considers unilateral action by the district.
"Essentially, what the district did was it took unilateral action, and in the area of compensation, and compensation is one of those things that's covered as a mandatory subject of bargaining in the state laws," Daly said.
The district declared an educational emergency to implement certain compensation changes, which the union disputes.
"They have what I would consider to be a novel interpretation of the law. And I say that not because I'm an attorney, but because no other district, you know, has decided that this is something they can do," Daly said.
The union and district will meet to agree on an arbitrator to hear the case, with a hearing date to be scheduled. Daly says the process could take 12 to 18 months to resolve.
"We're pretty confident, we hopefully will win this one like we did the last one, and then we'll be able to negotiate this if we want to continue to do it, to make it fair," Daly said.
The union argues the current system creates inequity among teachers.
"What it really does is it pits teachers against teachers. You can have a school where you and I teach different things same school, you're getting money, and I'm not just because you're teaching fourth grade and I'm teaching third grade," Daly said.
Teachers attending the meeting expressed hope for salary increases beyond the proposed compensation for additional work time.
Without competitive salaries, Daly warned that Lee County risks losing quality educators to higher-paying districts.
"It's one of those things where we're underpaid in comparison to our peers," Daly said.
The next bargaining session is scheduled for September 8.
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