School District of Manatee County Reaches Tentative Agreement With Teachers’ Union for 2025-2026
The School District of Manatee County and the Manatee Education Association (MEA) have reached a tentative agreement covering the 2025-2026 school year. The agreement, announced Tuesday, includes salary increases, adjustments to pay schedules, and supplements for both teachers and paraprofessionals.
The MEA, which represents teachers and paraprofessionals, said the agreement will be reviewed and voted on by its members before being presented to the Manatee County School Board for final approval.
Highlights of the tentative agreement for teachers include a new decompressed placement schedule beginning in 2025-2026 that credits experience up to 21 years, ending the previous salary schedule. Eligible teachers will receive a 4.75% salary increase, along with increases to performance schedule supplements and differentiated supplements. Teachers rated Effective or Highly Effective will receive statutory bonuses of $100 and $125, respectively. A new supplement will also be added for speech language pathologists, and existing retention supplements for long-serving educators will remain in place.
Paraprofessionals will see a one-step movement on the salary schedule and a $0.60 per hour increase applied across all steps. The referendum supplement for paraprofessionals will be $3,598, while teachers will receive a supplement of $9,537.
Both groups will see health insurance premium rates rise by 4% for employees and employers, with the district continuing to contribute approximately 75% of costs. Benefits will remain unchanged, and premiums will be spread over 22 checks during the calendar year.
All salary increases will be retroactive to July 1, 2025. The agreement continues the current contract language and health plan benefits until the 2026-2027 negotiations.
District officials said they are also preparing for upcoming bargaining sessions with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and are hopeful that an agreement will be reached before winter break.