Citrus negotiators agree on distribution approach for modest pay increases, set board match date

Citrus County Schools negotiators and the bargaining unit reviewed the economic portion of the district's contract proposal, agreeing on how a limited pool of funds will be distributed across instructional and support employees rather than increasing the overall total.

The instructional marking adjustment discussed at the table was described as $633,600 and was presented as a mechanism to fold the state Teacher Salary Incentive Allocation (TSIA) into a 0.9% across‑the‑board percentage for returning instructional staff on the salary scale. Support and classified staff were discussed as receiving a parallel 0.9% increase to steps 1 through 21 (classified) and professional technical steps 1 through 19. Employees already occupying the top step in a respective scale who would not receive a step increase were described in the session as eligible for an additional 1.5% payment; negotiators said those payments would be retroactive to July 1, 2025.

The parties also confirmed a $20 increase to the district's retirement board match, effective the Dec. 15, 2025 paycheck. A separate performance pay pool of roughly $32,000 was noted for distribution; the district said payroll entries for the approved changes would begin the week after the agreement and that monies would be made retroactive to the July 1, 2025 date previously discussed.

Budget totals were referred to in the meeting by staff who thanked colleagues for reconciling calculations; at one point a speaker cited a large figure while thanking a colleague for work on the reconciliation. The transcript record contains that cited number as "1,160,000,000.00," but negotiators did not provide corroborating documentation in the session and the figure was not broken down on the record.

Negotiators said the district will submit payroll inputs next week and that implementation details (how the distributed amounts will appear on employee reports and how TSIA will be shown separately in state reporting) will be available when the payroll runs. Parties noted that state TSIA reporting requires a specific form and that the district must exclude employees with less than two years of service from certain TSIA calculations when producing state reports.

No formal vote occurred in the bargaining session; negotiators indicated consensus on distribution mechanics and on timing for payroll processing. The parties agreed that final signatures would be placed on the last open articles and scheduled a follow-up caucus and another bargaining meeting the following Monday at 4 p.m. to finish remaining technical modules.

Clarifying details discussed at the table included the instructional marking adjustment amount ($633,600), performance pay pool ($32,000), the TSIA baseline amount discussed during the meeting (referenced as $443 in the transcript), and the retroactivity date (July 1, 2025). The district said it will present the finalized payroll entries to demonstrate how the increase and TSIA are reported for each employee.