Florida schools see substitute teacher shortage as school year approaches

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - As the start of the school year approaches, there is a need for substitute teachers. Last year, Florida schools started in the fall with thousands of teacher vacancies, and this year, they are especially seeing an issue with substitute teachers, which can burden students and full-time staff.

"It's always an issue. It's a bigger issue in schools. In the rougher schools that are lower-socioeconomic schools. Subs don't necessarily want to go in there," said Lee Bryant, the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association president. 

One substitute teacher in Hillsborough County experienced these issues first hand. 

READ: Hernando County math teacher named 2025 Florida Teacher of the Year

"When I started 15 years ago, I had a hard time getting jobs at the schools I wanted. Now, it's the opposite. There just aren't enough of us to fill those positions," said Karen Potter, a Bay Area substitute teacher. "As a teacher, from what I've heard, and as a sub, a long-term sub, it's hard to take time off to find a quality sub to come in and then come back, and it kind of feels like you've got more work. You wonder if you should have even take time off to be honest with you."

Without enough subs, full-time staff will either avoid taking time off, or students are shuffled around to other classrooms, which isn't conducive to good learning, said Bryant. 

"Teachers have earned their time off, and they're allowed to take it," Bryant said. "So what quite often will happen, is kids will be combined in classes, or they'll be sent to the auditorium or to the athletic field to work and to be assigned to PE teachers. Other teachers will pick up the slack."

FOX 13 was told that at the root of all these vacancies is still low teacher pay in the state. Subs are only paid around $14 an hour on average.

MORE: Pinellas County Schools earns ‘A’ rating for the first time from state education department

Bryant said this is his number one focus going into this school year. 

"Supply and demand is a key to all of this," Bryant said. "If you want quality people, you have to be willing to pay quality people. Subs are part of the deal. They make less than even some of the ESPs out there. So it's a tough gig."

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