Nearly 150 teachers filled the Marathon High School media center on Tuesday to ask the Monroe County School Board for 2 percent raises and seniority pay increases this year.</p><p>Many of the teachers told stories of 50- and 60-hour work weeks, using their own cash for students' supplies and even having their families skip Christmas due to dwindling household income.</p><p>The raises would be worth about $1.5 million total. The average teacher's salary in Monroe County is $56,272, the highest in Florida.</p><p>After about two dozen teachers spoke during a public comment period, union president Leon Fowler criticized school board members and walked out of the meeting before any board members addressed teachers' comments.</p><p>"They [teachers] didn't come here to listen to your excuses," Fowler said as board member John Dick prepared to speak. "We've heard it all a thousand times anyway. Let your words show up at the bargaining table."</p><p>Board Chairman Andy Griffiths defended Dick's right to speak, saying, "This is not a public meeting, Mr. Fowler. This is a meeting of the school board that is open to the public."</p><p>Fowler asked all the teachers to leave with him. About 20 did.</p><p>"Guys, they listened to every single one of us teachers up there and showed us respect, but we can't show them respect?" one teacher called out. "And we're asking them to be on our side?"</p><p>One resident, who wasn't a teacher but spoke in support of pay raises, shouted that the union should vote out Fowler.</p><p>Fowler and other union representatives are supposed to meet with district officials on Monday to further negotiate a labor contract, which so far is complete except for pay.</p><p>The union has asked for 2 percent cost-of-living raises plus "step" pay increases, which move employees up a set salary schedule for each year they've worked in the school district.</p><p>School officials, as directed by the board, have offered $600 bonuses plus step pay increased to begin in January.</p><p>The contract would apply to all teachers, bus drivers, food service workers, custodians and maintenance workers, whether they are members of the union or not.</p><p>On Tuesday, teachers called the board's offer a "slap in the face" and threatened to hold board members accountable during elections.</p><p>"To discount step [raises] is to discredit a year of service," Sugarloaf Middle School teacher Lisa Clearman said.</p><p>Key Largo School teacher Stephanie Pacheco said, "My hard work was not for extra credit, which is what I consider a [bonus] to be."</p><p>Dick was the only school board member who responded during the meeting. He said years of deficit spending by the district and significant drops in state revenue have forced the board to cut expenses.</p><p>He said two of Florida's top three districts, as measured by student performance on standardized tests, have not given teachers raises or step increases the past two years.</p><p>"Everybody here would love to do everything...[but] those are facts," said Dick, who also referenced the recent financial scandal involving theft by a former administrator.</p><p>"Not only was this district losing money out the back door for the last couple of years...[but] we've been in drastic budget deficit spending and raiding the wrong accounts," Dick said. "This is the result of it."