USEP Update 8/11/2023
USEP UPDATE
FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 2023
On behalf of all of us at the USEP office, we hope your first days went well!
VERIFICATION OF EMPLOYMENT FOR REFERENDUM SUPPLEMENT –
Starting with this school year, SRP and Instructional employees are now receiving a Referendum Salary Supplement. This supplement should appear as part of your 8/18 paycheck. USEP worked hard to get the Referendum in place and negotiated for SRP and Instructional employees to receive additional money based on years of experience. In many cases, Instructional employees filled out the employment verification form when they were hired. Other Instructional staff that want to add years of experience from other districts, should complete the attached employment verification form and send it to their previous employer. This form should be emailed directly from the previous school district to everifications@pasco.k12.fl.us. These directions are listed on the form. Employee’s supplemental referendum pay will be updated when the form is received, and qualifications are met.
Verification of Employment Form
BACK TO SCHOOL SUPPLIES –
Every year we welcome back our members by sending goodies. Calendars, etc., have been sent to worksites and will be delivered to members by the Building Reps.
UNION DUES UPDATE –
As most of you know now, union dues are no longer allowed to be deducted from your paycheck. USEP is using ACH, credit cards and cash/check options to pay dues. This new format requires filling out some additional information to make this happen. If you have not yet filled out the form to convert to eDUES, you can find it here: https://portal.useponline.org/ . Dues continue to be 1.75% of the base teacher salary for Instructional ($31.24) and 1.75% of straight time pay for SRP. We are approaching the deadline for conversion to avoid a loss of service and benefits.
WELCOME BACK TRANSPORTATION EMPLOYEES –
Last Thursday, Transportation employees did a test run of their routes. USEP representatives visited all 6 Transportation Compounds to greet our members and future members.
AP PSYCH UPDATE –
Due to the announcement from the Florida Department of Education, the Pasco School District (and several other Districts) will offer AICE Psychology as an alternative to AP Psychology. USEP has been in communication with the District regarding this change and will continue to monitor the situation to make sure that impacted teachers have the appropriate resources and are treated in a manner that is consistent with the Instructional Master Contract.
NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE –
Negotiations have been ongoing for a couple of weeks, now, and many Memorandums of Understanding (MOU’s) have been signed for both Instructional and SRP. USEP continues to advocate for recurring salary increases for employees. We are preparing to start conversation at the table for economics but want everyone to know that the referendum money will be seen in your first paycheck. This is the first year of a 4-year process and our goal is to reward longevity in the District while addressing the compression that has taken place because of recent legislation. This will be a process over time and our intent is to follow referendum guidelines to show Pasco voters this was a worthy decision that they could support again in 4 years.