OCEA

OCEA hosted the retirees tonight. It was a great evening with delicious food. OCEA is thankful for the years of commitment these individuals gave to our district and wish them the best as they learn to sleep in and use the bathroom whenever they need. ❤️
There are many special individuals in this group! The OCEA retirement organization is gaining some great people.

With great excitement OCEA is officially announcing that our Instructional unit is 61.1% today. A tremendous growth of over 400 members since March 1, 2026. This is because the contract mattered to instructional employees. Our next goal is a super majority!
ESPs the Showing of Interest Cards are ready to file with PERC. A vote is coming in the fall. In the mean time, every ESP has to start talking about the importance of our contract. The ESPs grew to 37.7% and we can get to 60%.

Lawmakers finalized the 2026-27 budget and here's some highlights...

➡️$201 million has been allotted for teacher salaries for the entire state of Florida, but almost half of Florida’s teachers could be excluded from receiving it. (TSIA money specifically for classroom teachers with 10 years teaching experience in Florida.)

➡️The Base Student Allocation (BSA) increased by 1.58%, far below what’s needed to keep pace with inflation.

➡️Florida’s voucher program was allocated $4.5 billion without any additional oversight or transparency despite Florida’s Auditor General finding a “myriad of accountability challenges.”

While Florida still has a long way to go in overall education investment, it's clear advocacy from educators, families, and communities through the Fund Our Future FL movement made a difference.

Increases to the BSA ($85 more per student from $50), additional teacher salary funding ($200 million from $100 million), and support for districts with declining enrollment all reflect progress since the end of the legislative session this March.

This progress will positively impact salary negotiations and contract collective bargaining continuing Wednesday.

Stay tunned and show up! Your participation MATTERS!

The OCEA members retirement dinner for those retirees ending by 5/31/26 is Tuesday. Be sure to RSVP to the number in your invitation today.

Don’t forget to sign up before Wednesday to participate in the last offering of this course before July 1.

In 24 hours our union collected 100 MAFs. 197 more to go with less than a week to collect. Ask your rep for your form. See comments.

Please sign and return your Membership Authorization Form. Currently missing 297. No Form=No 60%

If you've filled out an application and not linked the bank account, please do that this week. If you have told us you were waiting, now is the time. Let's stand together and secure our contracts and fight back against laws that try to silence our voices. Public Educators Matter. Contracts are important to working conditions.

We need 15 individuals to host this course. Please sign up today.

Florida taxpayers fund all three school systems—so why are the rules different?

Let us be clear: Every taxpayer-funded school should meet the same standards for accountability, transparency, and student protections.

Every child deserves a high-quality education, and every taxpayer deserves to know how their money is being used. Strong accountability strengthens the entire system.

See the requirement differences between each system for yourself: https://bit.ly/4d8TC5l