After a long and sometimes contentious contract negotiation, the Sarasota County teachers’ union and Sarasota County School Board separately ratified a two-year salary contract Tuesday. The new contract gets rid of the step-salary-schedule system, which offered teachers incremental pay raises based on how many years they had worked with the school district, and instead is replaced in merit-based pay for all teachers, a practice that had previously been limited to performance-pay teachers. Under the new contract, teachers evaluated by the state as highly effective will receive a 4.25 percent pay increase. Those with an effective rating will receive a 3.25 percent salary increase. Non-instructional employees will receive a 3.75 percent increase.
