Legislators in Florida are considering a bill that would help retired teachers return to the workforce.
Senate Bill 1482 would eliminate the requirement for retired teachers and other school personnel who have taken part in the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) to have been out of work for six months before starting new employment.
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Taking aim at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, said: “We’ve all heard the governor’s talking points about his investments in teachers and education, but the governor won’t tell you the truth about education in Florida, which is that our state ranks 48th in the nation in average teacher salary, 43rd in the nation in per student spending, and doesn’t even crack the top 10 in average teacher starting salary or average earnings for K-12 education support professionals.”
Ah yes, because the law these morons passed that prevents them from being rehired for 6 months is the problem, not the horrible pay, worse teaching conditions, and the ever present threat of civil and criminal charges for even hinting that LGBTQ people actually exist. I’m sure repealing that little clause will fix everything.
Yeah, I’m just waiting for the summer when the yearly exodus is going to spread measles all over the place. I’m just so happy they’ve decided that unvaccinated kids with known exposures don’t have to quarantine - with an infectivity rate of 15, what could possibly to wrong?!
It’s so weird that here in my state they are having 100+ applicantions for every open position.
Could It be because it pays one of the higher wages in the nation and the state next to it pays on average 1/3 less.
It’s almost as if there is no teacher shortage, there is a shortage of pay to teachers.
Man that sounds familiar, it’s almost like it’s… (Checks notes) ahh every goddamn sector other than tech…
Government positions have it even harder because you have to convince an already absurdly selfish population to pay more tax to pay for more teachers. Knowing Florida that’s a lot of “I don’t have school age kids anymore so fuck your woke budget.” :(
The Florida Legislature currently has HB13 waiting to pass. It ups the minimum wage for teachers to $65k. Would start Fall 2024.
It doesn’t fix all of the issues, but I was happy to see that bill. https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/13
I initially read that as “Florida scrambles to get retired teachers to return to combat.”
Which isn’t really wrong either.
yeah it’s so weird that a state like Florida can’t find enough teachers to work there
Texas is going to be in the same boat. I know of two other teachers from the high school I teach at doing the same thing I’m doing and leaving the state this summer.
Indiana is facing a teacher drain as well, in part because we pay our teachers terribly. My daughter had a shitty substitute teacher for all of fifth grade. She had no idea how to do things. I had to raise hell about some of the things she did (like punish my daughter for not saying the pledge of allegiance) and my daughter only told me about some of them later (she pushed Trump’s Big Lie on the kids).
And she’s had teachers who aren’t much better in terms of skill.
Edit: Even that so-called teacher quit public school at the end of the year to, appropriately, go work in a Christian private school.
Suuuuper weird. I’m willing to bet that they will settle for substandard teachers to fill the void. Teachers who will be okay with not teaching “challenging” topics like equal rights and evolution
Hell, they are already letting people without teaching certificates teach as long as they are veterans.
Are they really?
Throwing in someone potentially suffering from PTSD into a classroom filled with sociopathic teenagers sounds like a great idea.
This is disingenuous. They don’t just step off the battlefield into teaching.
You have to be a veteran, spent 2 years at college(no degree), and also pass a 4-hour ‘Florida Subject Area Test’ with a score of at least 71% in each subject they plan to teach.
Lmao.
Believe me Florida does not make it easy to be a teacher and Ron Desantis’s policies have a lot to do with this.
But the primary factor is pay. Teachers are laughably under paid in Fl. My sister has been teaching for 15 years makes little more than she did when she started. Most of the teachers my two older kids had in their elementary school have left for better paying careers. The number of teachers moving into the profession is not enough to compensate for retiring older teachers and the loss of teachers to other professions.
It’s simple supply and demand. Pay your fucking people and they will stay.
“Come out of retirement. However, if you say the wrong thing, you’re fired.”
“Lol Grandma, we need you to come out of retirement! The woke mind virus killed all tbe teachers and everyones blaming me!” -DeSantis, probably
