Florida's teacher shortage has got even worse, with almost 7,000 positions vacant across the state as students headed back to school after summer break.
There were 5,294 teacher vacancies in Florida in January this year, according to the Florida Education Association's (FEA) count of vacancies posted on district websites. The number of support staff vacancies was 4,631.
It was the "worst teacher and staff shortage we've ever seen in the state of Florida," FEA President Andrew Spar told Newsweek earlier this year.
But that number has now climbed even higher.
There were 6,920 advertised vacancies for teachers as of August 7, according to the FEA's latest count. Students in most Florida school districts went back to school on August 10. There were also another 5,072 advertised vacancies for support staff.
The FEA blames the high number of vacancies on the education policies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis, who opinion polls show continues to trail former President Donald Trump in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, has aggressively pursued a conservative agenda to target what he calls liberal indoctrination in schools.
He's signed legislation on a number of education issues, including what he called the Stop WOKE Act last year that limits how race can be taught in classrooms. Earlier this year, he signed an expansion of what critics call the "Don't Say Gay" law, barring classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades.
More recently, the Florida Board of Education's approval of a revised Black history curriculum to satisfy legislation signed by DeSantis has been condemned for requiring instruction to middle school students about how slaves "developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."
"Far too many children in Florida won't have the first day of school they deserve," Spar said in a statement.
"But Gov. DeSantis' attacks are having an unintended consequence. They're creating new coalitions to fight against his regressive agenda and for positive change. As students, parents, educators and community members of all races, places and religions come together to demand better for our students, we will make Florida a place where all children can thrive."
A DeSantis spokesperson previously told Newsweek that the vacancies only account for a fraction of Florida's teachers.
"Florida has 185,000 teachers and the state's vacancies represented (in September—and hiring has continued) approximately 2.4 percent of teaching positions, around 1.2 open positions per school on average," Bryan Griffin said in April. "This does not reflect a 'struggle to hire and retain teachers.'"
Spar and teachers who spoke to Newsweek said low pay was also a factor in the high number of teacher vacancies in Florida.
Florida ranks 48th in the nation for average teacher pay, according to the National Education Association. The average salary is $51,230, while the average starting salary for teachers in the state is $45,171.
"What a lot of teachers realize is when you adjust for inflation, and you adjust for the cost of living increase, we're not making any more than we made when I began my career back in 1998," Brandt Robinson, a teacher at Dunedin High School, previously told Newsweek.
Newsweek has contacted the Florida Education Association and DeSantis' office for comment via email.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on abortion rights, race, education, ... Read more
