FLA., TAMPA – Teachers are very important to our education system, but Florida’s school districts have the hardest time filling positions. They have some of the highest rates of teacher openings in the country.
“It’s been a big problem in Florida for a while now.” “It’s been getting worse over time,” the head of the Florida Education Association, Andrew Spar, said.
The Annenberg Institute at Brown University and the ADP Research Institute have released new studies that show the number of job openings and the supply and demand across the country.
The Annenberg study says that Florida has more than 5,000 jobs, which makes it the worst state. That’s because teachers are leaving and not enough people are becoming teachers, plus the environment, said local teachers.
“School is stressful. “Covid and some of the social attacks that have come into the classroom have made it even more stressful,” said Lee Bryant, head of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association.
Bryant taught economics until last year, and he said that paying teachers well is a good way to show that you value them.
“Every year, I make deals with Pinellas County Schools. They’re nice people. If they could, they’d love to pay us more. “But you can only do so much when you don’t have enough money,” Bryant said.
That’s why the state assembly and the budget are important. Florida is ranked 48th in the country for teacher pay, and jobs aren’t being filled.
“In one school area, a teacher with 25 years of experience made $60,000 a year in 2010. It costs $58,000 to be a teacher in that area after 25 years of work, Spar said.
Spar went to some schools in the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday. He said that schools across the state are dealing with the effects.
“I have a daughter who’s in ninth grade in Volusia County on the other coast, and the first nine weeks of the school year she didn’t have an English teacher,” he said. “This is the third year in a row that my daughter has not had her complement of teachers for the entire school year.”
He said that the state budget for this year has a raise, but it’s not enough.
“I heard “just let us teach” in schools today as well.” Spar told the Hillsborough County School District, “Just let us teach and make sure we can pay our bills.”
Spar said that progress on pay bills during the last parliamentary session was wiped out. He said that Florida has more than 20 laws that control teacher pay. Some of these laws make it harder for teachers with more experience to get paid more.
Spar is seeing more and more of those teachers who have been there for a long time quit before they retire, which is not normal.