Florida's Education Commission Anastasios "Stasi" Kamoutsas spent much of his Tuesday talk before the Capital Tiger Bay Club in Tallahassee criticizing the state's teacher unions.
After noting that Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature had provided $6 billion for teachers' salary increases over the past eight years, there seemed to be a disconnect. He laid the blame on the unions.
"I saw that teachers were not getting paid in a timely fashion," he said. "They not only hold up teacher pay, but they have wasted their members' dues to push their own political agenda. They have received exclusive bargaining authority with little support, and they have stood in the way of teachers receiving their pay increases like I said."
Kamoutsas said the most recent lawmaking session passed several bills in support of education, such as extending the school guardian program to the state's colleges and universities. That trains and arms school staff to respond in shooting incidents.
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