Teacher contracts in Hillsborough County will be a hot topic of conversation Monday.
- Teachers, Hillsborough school district still negotiating teacher raises
- Teachers were expecting $4,000 per year raise in January
- District insists funds are not available for the promised raises
- Special magistrate will listen to both sides Monday
School district officials and the teacher's union are meeting to continue negotiations on teacher pay.
Even though the 2017-18 school year is almost over, the contract issue has not been resolved.
So far, school officials have said there isn't enough to give teachers a $4,000 raise the educators say they were promised last year.
Representatives from the Classroom Teachers Association say after spending six months at the bargaining table and getting nowhere, an impasse was declared.
On Monday, a special magistrate will listen to both sides and they will make recommendations as to how to move forward.
Over the last six months, teachers have protested outside the district and attended countless meetings pledging with school officials to give them raises they feel they deserve.
"When you can look at Pasco or you can look at Polk and those school districts are abiding by their contracts and dealing in better faith with their employees," said Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins with the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association. "(It) makes it easy to think there might be a different place for them to go and what we want is for our best teachers and support staff to stay here."