Governor Rick Scott was in South Florida yesterday, kicking off a tour of Florida schools to tout the new budget which includes teacher pay raises. Scott attended an event at Piper High School in Sunrise, as well as visited a school in West Palm Beach.
Scott used the event, which also marked the start of National Teacher Appreciation Week, to promote the recently approved budget, which includes a $480 million fund for merit based raises for the state's teachers.
"I cannot think of a better way to recognize the hard work and and dedication of our teachers than with a well deserved pay raise", Scott said.
The governor credited Florida's rebounding economy with giving lawmakers the resources to increase education spending by $1 billion compared to last year,which includes the fund for raises. Teachers can qualify for a range of raises developed by local school boards that would take effect June 2014.