Short answer
How do Broward teachers move to a higher column on the salary schedule?
Broward has no credit-hour columns. A master's, specialist or doctorate matching your Florida certificate adds a yearly degree stipend for anyone hired on or after July 1, 2011. Separately, a Basic Incentive Award pays for 15 semester hours or 300 inservice points beyond your last degree, after three consecutive full-time years in Broward.
Source: Entitlements and Incentive Awards, Broward County Public Schools. Checked .
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How is the Broward teacher salary schedule organized?
The district's Salary Schedules page posts the 2025-2026 instructional sheets. Rates for that year were approved by the School Board through a memorandum of understanding on January 21, 2026. Two documents matter for classroom teachers:
- Grandfathered Teacher Salary Schedule. Pay levels are lettered rather than numbered, and the sheet is built on a 196-day calendar of 7.5-hour days. The New Hire Teacher Salary Schedule page says this schedule belongs to teachers employed before 2011 with no break in service.
- Pay for Performance Initial Placement Chart. This chart places teachers hired after June 30, 2025 by years of experience, in bands that run through 16 years and then group 17 to 20. After placement, only a Highly Effective or Effective rating brings the yearly base increase; Needs Improvement, Unsatisfactory or a missing evaluation brings none.
Article 19 of the collective bargaining agreement covers professional compensation, and Appendix E holds the schedules themselves. For anyone hired or rehired on or after July 1, 2011, degree pay is not a column at all. It arrives as a stipend spread across 20 paychecks from September to May, while the Q&A paper notes that earlier hires carry degree pay inside base pay under the contract appendix. Our guide to reading a salary schedule explains how stipends differ from lanes.
Do graduate-level courses raise pay at Broward?
Yes, but only through the incentive awards, and only for teachers who meet the service rules. The awards page lists them under the authority of contract Article XXI(A) and (B):
- Basic Incentive. 15 semester hours or 300 inservice points earned after your last degree, bachelor's or master's, all within ten years.
- Advanced Incentive. Requires a master's and 10 years of Florida public school teaching. You need either 30 semester hours or 600 points beyond the master's, or the Basic Incentive plus 15 more hours or 300 more points earned after both the Basic start date and the master's conferral.
Both awards require membership in the teacher bargaining unit, a five-year Professional Certificate and three consecutive years of full-time teaching in Broward (private and charter school years do not count). Holders of a specialist or doctorate are not eligible. College credit must be upper division (junior or senior) or graduate level, and community college courses are excluded. The coursework has to be acceptable for the professional or specialization areas of Florida certificate requirements. Participation hours from district professional development cannot be used; only recertification-appropriate inservice counts. Hours used for the Basic award cannot be reused for the Advanced one.
A degree is a different track. Broward pays one stipend, for the highest degree only, and it does not pay for degrees in real estate, law or religion. For hires and rehires on or after July 1, 2011, section 1012.22 limits the payment to a degree in the area shown on the Florida certificate. The district's Commonly Asked Questions paper gives examples: a Curriculum and Instruction master's with an Elementary Education specialization is paid when Elementary Education is on the certificate, while a general C&I degree with no specialization, or a Public Administration master's, is not. The awards page words the rule more loosely ("and/or if the degree major is in an area of Education"), so check your major against the district's acceptable-majors list before relying on it. Master's degree vs. credits walks through that choice.
Does Broward require approval before you take a course?
No district form approves courses in advance for either track. Approval happens after the work is finished. For incentives, the Certification/Incentives Office evaluates the request, and status letters approving or denying the award go out by e-mail after a four-week processing period. For degrees, the office reviews the "Request for Payment of an Advanced Degree for Teachers" form and an official transcript showing "DEGREE CONFERRED", and an approval e-mail states the start date. Educational Leadership degrees are paid only once that coverage is added to the certificate. When a course choice is uncertain, our article on whether a district will accept a course lists questions to settle first.
When are transcripts due, and when does the new column take effect?
The two tracks run on different calendars.
- Incentive awards: coursework and inservice must be complete by September 1. Requests are accepted only between April 1 and September 15, and anything outside that window is returned. Upload transcripts with the request; inservice points must already be posted to your record. Approved awards are paid retroactive to the start of the school year and do not need renewal.
- Degree stipend: forms are accepted all year, by pony or U.S. mail, but no later than the last day of the school year. A request received after that is evaluated for the following year with no retroactive payment. The Q&A paper says payment typically starts in mid-September, and a degree conferred mid-year is processed from the payroll period after conferral.
Teachers holding the Basic Incentive who finish a master's lose the incentive and start the master's stipend instead. They can apply for the Basic again after 15 hours or 300 points beyond the master's. See transcript deadlines for timing habits that avoid a lost year.
Do the same units count toward Florida license renewal?
Often they do, which is what makes the Broward incentive unusual. Under Florida Rule 6A-4.0051, renewing a Professional Certificate takes 6 semester hours or 120 inservice points per five-year cycle, with each semester hour worth 20 points. Broward measures its awards in the same currency: 300 points equal 15 hours under that conversion. A teacher who banks recertification points in My Learning Plan is also building toward the Basic Incentive, provided the points are recertification-eligible and fall inside the ten-year window. Keep the state's required content in view, including a credit's worth on teaching students with disabilities. The Florida renewal summary has the full rule, and the Florida state guide covers the statute behind both schedules.
Where can Broward teachers earn graduate-level units?
Every district, Broward included, decides for itself whether a course counts for the purpose a teacher needs it for: a column move, a stipend, license renewal or an added endorsement. No provider, university or website can make that decision, so the rules above come first, and written approval from Broward's human resources office is the safest record to have before you pay.
At Broward, units count toward pay only for some teachers or through a separate award, as units that count explains, so confirm with human resources that the rule applies to you before you enroll. Units can also count toward license renewal; see the renewal section.
| Question | What Broward says | What to look for on the provider's site |
|---|---|---|
| Type of unit | Broward: 15 or 30 semester hours, or 300 or 600 points; incentive awards | Semester or quarter units, graduate-level or not, and the university named on the transcript and its accreditor |
| Grade | See units that count | Letter grade or pass/fail on the transcript |
| Deadline | Broward: April 1 to September 15; incentives; degrees by last school day | Published grading and transcript-posting time, and any rush option |
| Approval | Broward: None; reviewed after completion | Course descriptions or syllabi you can attach to an approval form |
| Price | Not set by the district | All-in price per credit, including any university or first-course fee (compare) |
Graduate-level credit providers, listed with the same facts
With those rules in hand, compare providers on the same points. Providers listed on this site, each with the same facts:
- Teacher Friendly: self-paced online, units through University of the Pacific; $336 first course for 3 credits (price notes)
- Credits for Educators: self-paced online, units through University of the Pacific; $297 for 3 credits (price notes)
- Credits for Teachers: self-paced, 6 months, units through Valley City State, Adams State, UMass Global or CSU Pueblo; from $349 for 3 credits (price notes)
- Dominican CA Online: self-paced, units through Dominican University of California; $477 for 3 credits (price notes)
- For Teachers By Teachers: self-paced, units through CSU Pueblo or UMass Global; $285 CSU Pueblo for 3 credits (price notes)
- Fresno Pacific University CE: self-paced, up to 1 year, units through Fresno Pacific University; ≈$475 for 3 credits (price notes)
The provider directory lists 28 providers and programs by what teachers need them for, and Compare sets published prices for 16 of them side by side, with transcripts from 11 universities. A listing on this site does not mean Broward has approved a provider or course; only the district can do that. TeacherPayGuide has commercial relationships with some providers it lists; how listings work.
Broward salary questions teachers ask
Can inservice points count toward the Broward Basic Incentive?
Yes. The Basic Incentive accepts 15 semester hours or 300 inservice points earned after your last degree, within ten years. District participation hours do not qualify; only professional development appropriate for recertification does.
When can I apply for a Broward incentive award?
Between April 1 and September 15, with all coursework or inservice finished by September 1. Requests arriving outside that window are returned.
Does Broward pay for a Curriculum and Instruction master's?
The district's Q&A says a general C&I degree with no specialization is not paid, but one with a specialization that matches a subject on your Florida certificate is. Compare your major with the district's acceptable-majors list.
Is the Broward degree stipend retroactive?
Only within the school year. Forms received after the last day of the school year are evaluated for the next year, with no retroactive payment.
Where can Broward teachers take graduate-level courses for salary credit or renewal?
Broward decides which courses count, under the rules on this page, so check with human resources before you enroll. Providers that teachers compare include Teacher Friendly, Credits for Educators, Credits for Teachers, Dominican CA Online, For Teachers By Teachers and Fresno Pacific University CE. They differ in format, transcript university, grading time and price; the provider directory and the Compare page list 16 providers with the same facts for each.
Sources
- Salary Schedules, 2025-2026, Broward County Public Schools. Checked
- Grandfathered Teacher Salary Schedule, 2025-2026, Broward County Public Schools. Checked
- Pay for Performance Initial Placement Chart, Broward County Public Schools. Checked
- New Hire Teacher Salary Schedule, Broward County Public Schools. Checked
- Entitlements and Incentive Awards, Broward County Public Schools. Checked
- Request for Payment of an Advanced Degree for Teachers, Broward County Public Schools. Checked
- Advanced degree Commonly Asked Questions, Broward County Public Schools. Checked
- Acceptable degree majors by certification area, Broward County Public Schools. Checked
- Section 1012.22, Florida Statutes. Checked
- Rule 6A-4.0051, F.A.C., certificate renewal. Checked
Reviewed November 11, 2026 by TeacherPayGuide editors.Report an error