Oasis Charter Schools employees to get bump in wages
Employees within the city of Cape Coral’s municipal charter school system will soon see a little more money in their paychecks.
The Cape Coral Charter School Authority Governing Board on Tuesday approved a “class parity adjustment for internal salary compression” which will collectively provide more than $1.4 million in wages.
The total collective increase to salaries is $1,470,060.88.
The average increase is 12.1% for all staff, teachers, support personnel, and administrators. Everyone in the system received a bump of at least 1% so no one walked away empty handed.
A 1% increase scheduled for fiscal year 2026 and 2027 will be reevaluated during the budget process.
The system decided to move forward with class years, essentially time teaching within the Oasis Charter School system.
“I think it’s a worthy action,” Member Joe Kilraine said. “I think it is well deserved. I wish it could be more. I think it is a step in the right direction.
Chair Kristifer Jackson said it’s just the first step.
“It is not what we would like to give, but what we can give,” he said. “It’s the first step in the three-year process.”
Teachers should see the cost adjustment on their March 14 pay date.
Superintendent Jacquelin Collins said when they met with all four schools there were some questions – mostly around “bridging” – staff members leaving and then returning to the charter system.
“As an industry standard it is not addressed in our profession,” she said, adding that they agreed it would be something they would look at in the next step in 2028.
Another question stemmed from receiving credit to their overall teaching years outside of the charter system.
Collins said again, to make it affordable, they have not been able to give a compensation differential for significant time and dedication outside of the system.
“Addressing previous years outside of the system is not an affordable thing for us to do as a small charter school system,” she said.
Collins said the teachers will receive information on what their salary is now, the percentage increase and what their pay will be moving forward. She said with the system moving to an 8-hour school day for staff – the secondary schools moving from 7-1/2 to an 8-hours – the information will also include what their pay will be for the extra 30 minutes.
“If you have a problem, something doesn’t look right, make an appointment with us and we will review each case individually,” Collins said. “We have spent a significant amount of time reviewing numbers to make sure the teacher salary plan we have in place is accurate. They crunched the numbers to make sure what we wanted to offer we could afford.”
Jackson also spoke to the strategic goals of the system, with the second one dealing with recruiting and retaining staff by offering competitive salaries.
“We have shortened up that gap a little bit. Today is the first time we have been able to achieve all three of our goals in the history since we have made this plan. That is monumental. That is huge,” he said.
Last month the board listened to a presentation, which showed that nearly 70% of employees at Oasis Charter School are earning below the midpoint of their published pay range. Oasis Charter Schools’ structure is inconsistent for its range spread for the 339 employees – the minimum starting salary to the maximum salary and how much range is within those numbers, according to the information presented.
In other business, the board also approved the class size reduction compliance plan for Oasis Elementary North and Oasis Middle School.
Oasis Elementary North Principal Kevin Brown said a staff member left during the FTE in early February, who they needed to get under the 18-student limit.
Collins said if they are out of compliance, a plan has to be put into place.
“Compliance is compliance. It kind of hit at a really bad time. We are adjusting and making sure we are in compliance as soon as possible,” Brown said. “Mid-year staff loss is a challenge in general. Most teachers stick out the year.”
The board also talked about the students enrolled in the system and whether they could add additional students.
Collins said they have 900 students at the high school and are looking to have 950 students next year.
She said students who have a seat in Oasis are guaranteed a seat through 12th grade.
“Maintaining that promise for those internal students that you get to stay if you choose – that leaves very little room or any for outside students to come into our system. All of our students are choosing to stay,” Collins said, adding that there is a lot of planning in the future.
She said the problem is when there is a bubble — when one year there is six classrooms in fifth grade and the next there are seven classes, as they all flow into the one middle school.