Florida’s statewide teachers union says teacher and staff vacancies have gone up in the first half of the school year despite signs the state’s ongoing teacher shortage was showing modest improvements.
The Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, conducts a count of teacher vacancies in August and then again in January every year. In August, there were 2,260 vacancies. Now, there are 2,363 vacancies statewide.
That’s unexpected, says the teachers union. Usually these numbers improve as the year goes on and districts have the chance to fill open positions.
“By the middle of the year, most positions should already be filled. Instead, with thousands of vacancies still halfway through the year, the data reflects a larger problem: these vacancies aren’t just unfilled but are positions that districts simply can’t fill,” read a statement from the FEA.
The FEA calls this uptick in vacancies “a troubling sign that the situation is getting worse not better.”
The Florida Department of Education pushed back against the claims and what it called the FEA's flawed methodology it uses to calculate vacancies.
"The reality is teacher vacancies have declined by nearly 30% over the past two years thanks to the efforts by Governor Ron DeSantis to raise teacher pay and expand the number of pathways for qualified individuals to enter the teaching profession. Florida has dedicated nearly $6 billion since 2019 towards teacher and other instructional personnel pay increases with $1.56 billion, a $200 million increase over last year, included in Governor DeSantis’ Floridians First Proposed Budget," read the statement from the Florida DOE.
"Expanded certification pathways have also strengthened the teacher workforce. Through the Teacher Apprenticeship Program, more than 80 individuals are currently receiving paid, on-the-job training from experienced educators while working toward certification, with more than 500 applicants to date. Additionally, more than 100 military veterans have begun teaching through the Military Veterans Certification Pathway, and nearly 700 have applied to participate."
But the union says turnover is so high in the state that 31% of teachers last year had four years or less of classroom experience.
The FEA says Florida’s universal voucher program and an affordability crisis has pushed teachers and other educational staff out of the state, along with “policies targeting migrant communities.”
In August, Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrated fewer teacher vacancies than the previous school year. An analysis by Central Florida Public Media, confirmed that indeed, at that time, the teacher shortage was improving in every Central Florida public school district.
Even though these vacancies have increased from the start of the year, the total vacancies, which number 2,363 are a far cry from the over 7,000 vacancies the state logged shortly after the height of the COVID pandemic.
Check out a table of the newest teacher vacancies data from the Florida Education Association:
