DCPS Custodians Deserve $15/hour!
Duval County School Board
The hardworking men and women who keep Duval County Public Schools clean do so while fighting poverty wages of $12/hour. Even employees with decades of experience make only $12.72. With inflation pushing up the cost of everything, it is too little to live on.
Raising pay for custodians to $15/hour is a step forward in treating them with respect and dignity by giving them an actual wage. It is not close to a living wage but will help hundreds of our neighbors focus on keeping our schools running and not if they have to choose between buying groceries or paying rent.
The Duval County School Board can require contractor HES Facilities Management to solve this problem.
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Every student in Duval County Public Schools is taught to treat their classmates, teachers and others around them with respect. But what example are we giving when the very custodians who keep our schools clean and healthy live on poverty wages of $12/hour?
Shouldn’t Duval County Public Schools, one of the state and nation’s largest systems, have the decency to pay workers more than just the legal minimum?
While paying the bare minimum may work for the executives at contractor HES Facilities Management, its impact can be seen in our schools and in our budgets. We are experiencing a nearly 35% turnover rate for custodians which means we are spending money on recruitment and training year after year that could be better spent on other needs.
This Board has the power to make things right. You can require HES to raise pay to at least $15/hour and, by doing so, save hundreds of our school staff from choosing between putting food on the table or paying for medicine or keeping the lights on.
Our school custodians cannot afford another year without a raise. Inflation is stretching already thin paychecks past the breaking point. Please correct this economic injustice happening in our schools.