Reporter: Emily Young
•9/14/2026
LEE COUNTY, Fla. (WINK) — Lee County has a new deal on state teacher salary allocation.
This is the same agreement the school district and teachers' union first negotiated in July. On Friday, the board officially approved it.
Under the deal, about 2,100 full-time Lee County teachers with at least 10 years of experience will get a salary increase that will come out to $2,340 after taxes and benefits. That money will hit their bank accounts in October.
That's actually only one part of the district's plan to boost teacher pay. The district says it's committing about $27 million toward teacher compensation for the 2026-27 school year.
Let's break that money down: $6.2 million of that is state funding specifically set aside for the teacher raises they'll get next month. Plus, the district has already budgeted $18 million for teacher incentive pay.
The district says it has identified an additional $3 million in its budget that it wants to put toward teacher compensation. The district and teachers' union still have to negotiate exactly how that money will be distributed.
Both sides will return to the bargaining table Monday at 4:30 p.m. to work out the rest of the compensation package.
