Pasco County administration, non-instructional union trade pay proposals

Negotiators for the Pasco County school district and non-instructional personnel returned to bargaining Monday, hoping to narrow the differences in their pay proposals.

They got to within $500,000 of each other.

District officials countered the United School Employees of Pasco's initial demand for a 2.75 percent raise by offering 1.75 percent. District leaders have noted that they have about $3.3 million for pay increases for everyone, and the money has to be spread among all workers, including teachers.

So it put forth $1.23 million, down from the USEP's initial $1.93 million initial request. The USEP came back with a counter-proposal of its own, reducing its ask to 2.45 percent raises, totaling $1.72 million.

They appeared to agree on board-paid health insurance increases of $142.

Contract talks for teacher pay had a wider gap, with the USEP asking for $3 million more than the district offered. Those talks are set to resume Wednesday, with the union expected to submit a revised economic plan.