With nearly 9,000 vacancies around the state, the career does not seem as attractive as before.
Florida school districts are running against the clock to fill the state’s large teacher shortage.
There are more than 9,500 teaching and support staff positions available across the state, according to a Florida Education Association (FEA) report. The number of vacancies is almost double that of last year’s when the FEA reported nearly 5,000 vacancies.
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For example, Volusia County Schools has 365 openings, Duval County Public Schools reported 529 vacancies, and Orange County Public Schools has 800 vacancies.
Volusia County is hosting two job fairs next week, where they can hire on the spot:
The first one will be on July 12, at the Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, and the other on July 14, at the DeLand High School Auditorium in DeLand.
One of the possible reasons for the shortage is the salary. The average salary in Florida is $51,000 compared to the national average of approximately $65,000.
Regional Director of Teach for America Lakeisha Wells-Palmer said there’s a need to make the career attractive again.
“We are responsible for academically growing and supporting students on a day-to-day basis. Teachers are with students for more than eight hours a day. So the profession is hard in itself,” Wells-Palmer told News4Jax.
In addition, teachers have additional pressure with Florida’s new restrictions like the “Don’t Say Gay” policy and the “Stop Woke” act, which intervenes with the academic content of the curriculum.
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Teachers also have to deal with the safety of students and themselves, given the high level of gun violence that the US is facing. Some Republicans have even suggested arming teachers to keep the classrooms safe.
Some of the steps the FEA is recommending to address the situation include pairing salaries with the national average, allowing good-performing teachers to get longer-term contracts, and hiring and developing more teachers.
