For the past couple of years, the Lee County School District has struggled to ensure a teacher is in every classroom in public schools in the county. In order to guarantee that every public school in Lee County had a teacher for the 2025-2026 school year, the school district offered a new incentive program. The Teacher Incentive Initiative offers teachers bonuses to teach and stay at high-risk schools in the county.
The initiative offers financial incentives of up to $9,000 to educators who teach in high- risk schools and teach critical subjects and/or complementary subjects. The main financial incentive comes from critical subjects which include English Language Arts (ELA) for grades 3 to 10, Mathematics for grades 3-8, Biology 1 and High School United States History courses, among others.
Rob Spicker, spokesman for Lee County Public Schools, explain that there is a correlation between low-income schools and low test scores.
“With the union [Teacher’s Association of Lee County], we have created a grouping of which schools were most at risk and we looked at it and it had to do with income and test scores,” Spicker said. “Lower -income schools often have lower test scores. And in those schools, one of the things that was noticed was those were the schools that had the most often and largest amount of teacher vacancies.”
In Lee County, risk is divided into four levels, 1 being the lowest and 4 being the highest risk. Overall, the county has 24 schools that fall under either level 3 or level 4. For risk level 3 schools, the total incentive a teacher can make ranges from $2,000 to $6,500 and for risk level 4 schools, the range is from $2,500 to $9,000.
The program’s goals are to ensure teacher retention in high-risk schools and to improve Lee County’s Report Card – now a B county but aiming for an A like neighboring Collier County.
Mia Bagley is a first-year educator teaching fourth grade ELA at Allen Park Elementary School, a risk level 3 school. Bagley was offered $2,500 for teaching in a risk level 3 school and another $2,500 for teaching ELA, which is considered a critical subject.
“They [Lee County School District] announced the bonus after we signed our contract, so me and the other teachers, did not know we were getting it,” Bagley said.
Despite Bagley receiving a bonus, she doesn’t think it’s a fair initiative.
“All of us teachers are doing the exact same amount of work and only teachers who teach at critical schools are getting the money,” Bagley said. “It’s all based on socioeconomic factors.”
The president of the Teacher’s Association of Lee County, Kevin Daly, believes that Lee County School District offering this incentive is unfair.
“This is an unfair labor practice that we believe they unilaterally imposed,” Daly said. “Essentially, Florida law requires negotiators. We’re not against this initiative, we’re against them [Lee County School District] unilaterally not negotiating it.”
However, Spicker cites that Florida statute gives the school district the ability to incentivize teachers without negotiating.
“When we first initially brought the idea up in the bargaining sessions in the spring, the union [Teacher’s Association of Lee County] did not like those. So, we took them to the board and had them passed. It is clear in statute that we have the opportunity to provide incentives outside of bargaining to our teachers,” Spicker said. “It’s not very often used; it’s kind of a novel idea, but it’s in statute that we can offer those incentives. So, we did. We had a critical need to keep teachers in those schools or entice teachers to be in those schools. And it worked because we got down to 37 openings for the start of the school year as opposed to 200 last year.”
Taryn Rack, an elementary school teacher at San Carlos Park Elementary School, believes the Teacher Incentive Initiative is a short-term solution for a long-term problem.
“In my opinion, it’s not enough to keep teachers and the pay is not enough for the cost of living in Florida,” Rack said. “It’s a start to get teachers attracted to Lee County but not enough to make them stay. This district has a lot of turnover.”
Spicker disagrees and believes this incentive has led to teacher retention.
“A lot of teachers may have ended up there because that’s where a job was and then their first or second year in, they say, ‘I’m out. I want something a little less stressful or a different group of students,’ but then all of a sudden, we offered them the $9,000 to stay and they stayed,” Spicker said.
Carmen Valle is a mother of three. Two of her kids are enrolled in Lee County Public Schools in risk level 1 schools. Valle is opposed to the Teacher Incentive Initiative.
“You can’t solve all the problems of a high-risk school with money,” Valle said. “The improvement of a school is dependent on the teachers and the staff to ensure a safe and a healthy classroom environment, not a bonus. This won’t solve the problem at all.”
Daly believes that attracting and retaining teachers in high-risk schools is about a mix between salary and support staff.
“Some of these schools need a counselor, mental health services, a nurse. It’s not just salary,” Daly said. “Salary sometimes does get the greatest help, but these students need more support. Salary doesn’t dictate support.”
Rebeca Gomez, a mother of one whose daughter attends a risk level 2 elementary school, has mixed feelings about the Teacher Incentive Initiative.
“I find it unfair for the rest of the teachers. They all have the same certifications to teach,” Gomez said. “I also agree that they should get a bonus because teachers that teach in a high-risk school have to put more time and effort into their students.”
Daly believes that this initiative does pit teachers against each other.
“It inherently breeds unfairness among a group of people who lead with their heart,” Daly said.
