Report: Florida has highest number of teacher vacancies; state officials disagree
TAMPA, Fla. - Teachers are the heartbeat of our education system, but Florida’s school districts struggle to fill jobs the most, ranking among the worst in the nation for teacher vacancies according to a recent report.
"It’s a major issue in the state of Florida, and it has been for a while. It’s been getting progressively worse," said Andrew Spar, the president of the Florida Education Association.
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New research analyses from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University and ADP Research Institute highlights the vacancies and the supply and demand across the nation.
Florida has the highest demand with more than 5,000 openings, according to the Annenberg study, which acknowledges there are variations within school districts for reporting vacancies. The study also lacks data on teacher vacancies for seven states. However, a Florida Department of Education spokesperson said the report is not a true reflection of the teacher shortage in Florida, pointing to the incomplete data and its methodology.
The Florida Education Association, the state’s teachers union, reported 7,553 advertised openings in Florida as of January 17, 2024, but FDOE disagrees with its methodology for counting vacancies. Local educators said the high vacancies are from teachers leaving, not enough people becoming teachers, plus the environment.
"Education is stressful. It’s gotten especially stressful with covid and some of the social attacks that have come into the classroom," said Lee Bryant, the president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association.
Bryant taught economics classes up until last year, and he said valuing teachers can start with pay.
"I bargain with Pinellas County Schools every year. They’re good people. They would love to pay us more if they could pay us more. But with limited funds, there’s only so much you can do," said Bryant.
That’s where the state legislature comes in, with bills and the budget. The Florida Department of Education said Florida ranks number one in overall education, higher education, and parental involvement in education. However, Florida ranks 48th for teacher pay, and the salaries aren’t keeping up.
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"One district in particular, a teacher with 25 years of experience in 2010 was making $60,000 a year. A teacher in that district today with 25 years of experience is making $58,000," said Spar.
Spar visited some Tampa Bay area schools on Wednesday. He said classrooms are dealing with the impact statewide.
"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," said Spar. "This is the third year in a row that my daughter has not had her complement of teachers for the entire school year."
An FDOE spokesperson said "the state invested $1.1 billion, an increase of $252 million, to continue to raise salaries for new and veteran teachers. Since 2020, Florida has invested more than $3 billion to increase teacher pay." Spar said this year's state budget includes a bump but not enough.
"Even in schools today, I heard ‘just let us teach.’ Just let us teach and make sure we can pay our bills," said Spar of his visit to the Hillsborough County School District.
Progress on bills to address pay this past legislative session ended up gutted, Spar said. He said there are 20-plus Florida laws governing teacher pay, and some of them make it harder for experienced teachers to get paid more.
So, Spar is seeing more and more of those long-time teachers leave before retirement, and that is not normal.
Among the state’s efforts to help, FDOE said the state established initiatives for military veterans and first responders to become teachers, created a teacher apprentice program and mentor bonus, extended the temporary certification time period from three to five years, and created a teacher internship certification program to help the workforce.
The state also offers reciprocity for educators with a valid out-of-state certificate or National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certificate. FDOE said the state also reduced some teaching barriers, "such as allowing a master’s degree to satisfy the General Knowledge Exam and certain Subject Area Exams and also providing an opportunity to waive these exams under certain circumstances to increase the pipeline of high-quality teachers."
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