As the school year is set to begin for most of Central Florida public schools, there are fewer open teacher positions in the region when compared to last year.
Across the board, Central Florida school districts are reporting few to no teacher vacancies ahead of the new school year.
In Orange County, 0.5% of teaching jobs are still vacant, while less than 2% of teaching jobs still need to be filled in Brevard County. Flagler County has no teacher vacancies.
Even in districts with more openings – Seminole has 20 vacancies, Osceola 56, Volusia 66, Marion 71 and Polk has 250 vacancies – these numbers are still lower than last year.
These numbers support Governor Ron DeSantis’ assertion last week that teacher vacancies in the state have improved.
DeSantis says there are 17.7% fewer teacher vacancies ahead of the new school year across the state. The Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union, said it will release its analysis later this month.
The governor said higher teacher pay, an expanded teacher apprenticeship program, and a pathway for veterans who want to teach have all helped train, recruit and retain more teachers in the Sunshine State.
Watch the governor discuss teacher vacancies:
“We've dedicated more than $5.9 billion towards teachers and pay increases. We've expanded the number of pathways for qualified individuals. We have our teacher apprenticeship program right now, more than 80 individuals are receiving on the job training from veteran teachers while they pursue their teaching certification. And nearly 500 more have applied for the program,” said DeSantis. “More than 100 military veterans have begun their teaching career through a temporary teaching certificate, through our military veterans certification pathway, and nearly 700 more have applied for the program.”
For his part, DeSantis said that he’ll be coming back for more money for teachers next year, too.
“And I'm really, really excited about the ability for teachers to get those raises, and we'll come back for more next year when the legislature comes back in, as I said, I asked for more than what was eventually gotten. I think we can do better, and we're going to push to do better,” said DeSantis.
DeSantis asked for $1.5 billion for teacher pay increases in his February budget request. The legislature approved $1.36 billion.
At the height of Florida’s most recent teacher shortage in 2023, directly coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic when many teachers retired early or left the profession altogether, Florida needed more than 7,000 teachers.
Those numbers have steadily improved in recent years, topping only about 3,000 vacancies by the last Florida Education Association count in January of 2025.
The FEA says improved teacher pay, better working conditions, and more streamlined and supportive pathways to teacher certification will continue to attract and keep more teachers in the profession.
