OCALA, FL (352Today.com) – The Marion County School Board on Tuesday approved 2026-27 salary and wage schedules for non-represented employees, covering principals, assistant principals, central office administrators, athletic trainers, and others, at an estimated fiscal impact of $684,071.
Non-represented staff are school district employees who are not covered by a union bargaining unit, so the school board sets their pay directly rather than through collective bargaining negotiations.
The schedules, which passed 5-0, provide roughly 1% increases. Board members described the raises as limited by ongoing budget pressures, inflation, and state funding shortfalls, while stressing that non-represented employees should not have to wait behind ongoing union negotiations.
Superintendent Dr. Danielle Brewer explained the distinction in pay-setting authority. “Tonight’s agenda item addresses raises for employees who are not represented by a union. The school board sets pay for all employees,” she said. “For employees in a bargaining unit represented by a union, Florida law requires that pay first be negotiated through collective bargaining. The district cannot change their pay outside that process, and we respect it. Non-represented employees have no one bargaining for them, so the school board sets their pay directly. Our non-represented employees should not have to wait on contract negotiations with unions for them to be considered for raises. Our agreement with Marion Education Association (MEA) was approved by the school board on August 25th, and teachers are already receiving their raises. Negotiations with Marion Education Support Personnel (MESP) and International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) are underway. Our next sessions are scheduled with MESP on November 19th and with IUPAT on December 16th. And we look forward to reaching agreements that recognize the important work of those employees.”
Discussion also addressed the absence of traditional steps and pay-for-performance this year. Board Member Lori Conrad asked about steps after raising the topic in a prior briefing. Brewer confirmed, “The steps are not included.” Human Resources Executive Director for Marion County Public Schools Wantanisha Taylor later clarified that the approach aligns with the instructional agreement: “So just for clarity, for MEA we did not do pay for performance (PFP), which normally we do have PFP pay for performance, so to recognize not receiving that additional pay, we’re not doing steps for non-represented. So they are two different things.”
Taylor added on placement: “So, the placement for APs and principals, where they come in, similar to teachers, is where they’re at. Principals and APs, they don’t get steps; they’re on a pay-for-performance salary schedule as well. So that is set when they come in with their years of service. That’s where they’re in place. They do receive increases each year and/or pay for performance. This year, we’re not doing pay for performance for principals and APs, which aligns with what we did for instructional staff and for our central office and other folks. They’re not receiving steps, so everyone across the board is just getting their allocated increase.”
Board members acknowledged the constraints. Board Member Nancy Thrower said she remembers times when there were years of no raises. “Those were hard times. This has been a thin year, and some things were done a little differently at the state level…And so it always is difficult as a school board member, and I imagine other board members may feel similarly that when you have great people that are doing great work, no matter what position they’re in, you just really wish that you could pay them more,” Thrower said. “With inflation being what it is and the cost of everything. It just wasn’t in the realm of possibility for this district or any other, really, unless they had a separate referendum to be able to make that even commensurate with the cost of living, let alone exceed it, which obviously would have been wonderful to be able to do. So, as being a part of the direct conversations, not happy with it, but it certainly doesn’t negate the respect and admiration for everyone that’s willing to continue to do this work. And we do know that when there are dark days, there are lighter days to come.”
Chair Dr. Sarah James highlighted a structural funding issue the board intends to prioritize with the legislative delegation. “This district borrows from our general fund more than $50 million a year to cover costs that are not properly funded from the state for transportation and exceptional student education, and so the money for raises comes out of that general fund, and the way that we are going to be able to more properly compensate our employees is to be able to be better funded in specific buckets at the state level, so that we can stop borrowing from our general fund to cover expenses and other line item expenses, and so I thought it important to share that because even if we got a fraction to even 10% of that 50 million dollars, we would be in such a better position to be able to better prioritize our employees’ payment for the tremendous work that they do.”
Reverend Eric Cummings thanked staff for advancing the item. “Oftentimes, this group of people who get these, the non-represented group, they’re the last to get anything. They’re waiting for everybody else to get their stuff done, and I’m grateful that this year we were able to move that forward. They shouldn’t have to wait because, oftentimes, people think that this non-represented group is always the highest-paid people in the district. It goes from top to low. There are a lot of people who are not represented.”
Board Member Dr. Allison Campbell addressed public perceptions, noting social media discussion ahead of the meeting. “The only thing that I wanted to add, because we did see some chatter on social media about what this was going to be this evening, and we understand as the largest employer in the county that we have some employees that make six-figure salaries. I mean, it is what it is. Dr. Brewer and I were looking at some data today from our local county data. We also understand that the median household income in Marion County is $61,010. So we understand how this might look to some folks, but that doesn’t negate the hard work that’s being done every day by numerous people. And to think that most of these people are supposed to work a 40-hour work week, but that is not at all what they do. This is a 1% increase on a salary every year, as has already been stated, is absolutely not keeping up with cost of inflation or cost of living. So, just wanted to say we understand. We hear community members are hurting, and so with a median household income of $61,000, we understand that. But within the school district, we have lots of great people doing lots of great work, and that’s what this raise represents.”
Thrower also noted that school board member pay is tied to the beginning teacher salary rather than population growth. “It is also important to share with the public that the school board is different than other elected offices. In other words, school board, whatever is the beginning teacher salary, that’s what a school board member earns. Our salaries aren’t based on population. So all these people that have moved in…We love them, but it creates headaches, and it certainly hasn’t created wealth for the school board.”
The approval came against the backdrop of the district’s September financial report, which showed all-funds expenditures exceeding revenues by roughly $30.4 million for the month, covered by a beginning fund balance of about $346 million. Board members framed the modest raises and state-level advocacy for transportation and exceptional student education funding as linked priorities for improving compensation capacity in future years