Florida High School Coaches Set For Massive Pay Increase

A bill has passed with overwhelming support that could alter the coaching position in Florida.

Coach Lenny Jankowski celebrates Vero Beach High School’s football team winning the Class 7A state semifinal against Miami Palmetto, Dec. 5, 2025, at the Citrus bowl. The team moves on to the Class 7A state championship game hosted at Florida International University’s Pitbull Stadium in Miami on Saturday, Dec. 13. | KAILA JONES /TCPALM / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Florida Legislature has passed a bill with overwhelming support that could alter the pay for high school coaches in the state.

House Bill 731, which previously cleared the Senate by unanimous vote, passed through the Florida Legislature, 104-5, that would allow high school bosster clubs or associations to provide direct, additional compensation to not only coaches, but activity directors or activity sponsors of an extracurricular activity supported by the booster club or association.

Handful Of Florida School Districts Already In Approval Of Change

“Most people don’t understand that coaches have been paid a flat supplement for 50 years and how that supplement is relative to the amount of hours they work,” Dr. Andrew Ramjit, executive director of the Florida Coaches Coalition, told the Florida Times-Union. “A football coach is working 1,500 hours plus a year and you’re making $3,700. That’s two bucks an hour. There’s no other profession where you’re making that litte.”

Ramjit told the site that 10 of the 67 school districts in Florida support the bill and have stated they plan to put it in their interal policies. None of the funds given to coaches would come from the school district and instead serve as a supplement to the funds already being paid out through a contract.

'Not A Single Dollar' Comes From School District's Budget For Supplemental Pay

“Not a single dolar is coming out of a school district’s budget,” Ramjit said. “I think the legislature themselves, when they were writing the bill, did not want to put any kind of a burden on school districts.”

Some of the funds provided from booster clubs to coaches would not need to be disclosed to the public. There could be a limit placed on what the coach can earn, as the bill states if a coach is classified as an administrator, they cannot earn more than the highest paid administrator in the school districts.

According to multiple sources, Florida high school football coaches rank among the lowest nationally for coaching supplements.