VIERA, Florida – Classroom teachers in 37 Brevard County public schools will be eligible for the Florida Department of Education’s new Best & Brightest retention bonuses of up to $2,500.
That’s on top of the 3.5% raise BPS offered for “highly effective” teachers and $550 additional pay raise for teachers actively employed by the district before July 1, 2007, that the Brevard Federation of Teachers union’s leaders balked at.
Classroom teachers rated “highly effective” could receive retention bonuses of $2,500, while teachers rated “effective” could receive $1,000.
The purpose of the 2019 Best & Brightest Teacher Program is “to recruit, retain, and recognize teachers who meet the needs of this state and have achieved success in the classroom,” says the 2019 Florida law creating the retention bonuses.
Eligibility for a Best & Brightest retention bonus requires a classroom teacher to teach in a school which has improved an average of three percentage points or more over three years on the total possible points achieved on Florida’s school-grading scale, and be rated “highly effective” or “effective” on the preceding year’s performance evaluation, plus teach in an eligible school for two consecutive school years (including the current year).
The Best & Brightest retention-bonus program replaces a former program that tied bonuses to teachers’ past scores on their college entrance exams such as the SAT and ACT.
Brevard public schools receiving 2019 Best & Brightest allocations include:
Atlantis Elementary
Bayside High
Cape View Elementary
Christa McAuliffe Elementary
Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High
Cocoa High
Columbia Elementary
Coquina Elementary
DeLaura Middle
Endeavour Elementary
Enterprise Elementary
Fairglen Elementary
Gemini Elementary
Golfview Elementary Magnet School
Harbor City Elementary
Imperial Estates Elementary
Indialantic Elementary
Johnson Middle
Jupiter Elementary
Lewis Carroll Elementary
Lockmar Elementary
Longleaf Elementary
Madison Middle School
Merritt Island High
MILA Elementary
Mims Elementary
Ocean Breeze Elementary
Palm Bay Elementary
Port Malabar Elementary
Palm Bay Magnet Senior High School
Riviera Elementary
Sea Park Elementary
Space Coast Jr./Sr. High
Stone Magnet Middle School
Turner Elementary
University Park Elementary
Viera High
In order to qualify for Best & Brightest funds, teachers must submit an application, along with an official evaluation, showing their rating and any other supporting documents. All applicants must be K-12 classroom teachers as defined by Florida Statute 1012.01(2)(a).
The Best & Brightest allocation funds were to be distributed to Brevard Public Schools on Thursday, September 26, 2019.
