During a historic election, Florida voters approved Amendment 2 to gradually raise the minimum hourly wage to $15 by 2026.
With over 10 million votes reported, the voters approved Amendment 2 by 61% of votes. The change will phase in through September 2026, but Florida residents will start seeing the raise as early as next year.
Currently, Florida’s minimum wage is $8.56. Once the change goes into effect, the Florida Policy Institute estimates that more than 1 million families will be lifted out of poverty as a result of the increase.
Joseph Gorge, an Orlando International Airport employee, said the increase will allow him to start saving for retirement.
“Now I want to be helping myself, my kids, and my grandkids,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
While Amendment 2 will represent a big step toward fair living wages, it will still not be enough to represent a living wage.
In Hillsborough County, a single adult would need to earn about $18 an hour to cover the basic needs, according an analysis of the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator.
With Amendment 2, Florida will be the eighth state to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Across the country, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York have also adopted the change.
Teacher-friendly county school board elected
Candidates from the pro-teachers union won a majority vote during the Hillsborough County School Board’s elections Tuesday.
As a result, hundreds of teachers across the county may have their jobs secured. Last month, Superintendent Addison Davis announced that over 670 jobs could be on the line as a result of a $72 million budget deficit and declines in student enrollment.
All four elected candidates were endorsed by the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, including former teacher Lynn Gray, Nadia Combs, Jessica Vaughn and Henry “Shake” Washington.
“With more union members being on the board, I think there is probably going to be some pushes and shoves,” middle school teacher Ashley Skoveira said. “They are very student-friendly and very teacher-friendly.”
Of the 670 jobs at stake, 424 are already vacant while the other 246 are being eliminated.
With the cuts, including the elimination of admiration positions as well as non-instructional cuts, the district will save around $51 million.
For Davis, the decision was not easy to make.
“I’ve had to make really difficult decisions that I wouldn’t make as a leader,” Davis said. “I would never ever take educators out of schools but when faced with a situation like this it’s taxing”
New accessible options to vote in Tampa Bay
Several counties around the Tampa Bay area met on Thursday to discuss a new pilot program to help people with disabilities vote.
The program will allow individuals to fill out a ballot on their own home computer. Other counties have also implemented three different types of accessible voting machines across polling sites that will allow individuals to listen to their ballot and vote through a gamepad.
Through OmniBallot Online, an electronic vote-by-mail, absentee, UOCAVA and sample ballot software, voters can cast their ballots through a secure online portal.
Credits
Anchors: Diana Halum, Caylee Cottrell
Reporters: Alexandra Rodriguez
Producer: Brad Haft
Writers: Ta’Bria Snowden, Zack Brown
Graphics editor: Carla Ibañez
Video Editors: Ta’Bria Snowden, Zack Brown
Show Editors: David Jones
Associate Producer: Payton Kirol, Dylan Zuccarello, Gabe Castro
Videographer: Dylan Zuccarello
Web Editor/Social Media Producer: Leda Alvim
Graduate Assistant: Emmanuel Maduneme
Faculty Adviser: Jeanette Abrahamsen, Wayne Garcia
