Florida must retain experienced teachers, while attracting new, enthusiastic educators

When incoming state Education Commissioner Manny Diaz said in April that he’d like to make teaching “cool” again, we at the Florida Education Association (FEA) might have taken offense. Teachers and staff know that educating kids is one of the coolest jobs around, but we get his drift.

Too many experienced teachers and support staff are leaving Florida’s schools, and too few new candidates are coming in.

For me, as for so many parents, the problem is personal.

My 13-year-old daughter has been without a qualified science teacher for half the school year. Her last science teacher resigned right after winter break. As a district superintendent recently told the State Board of Education, schools are facing a “catastrophic level of shortage” in staffing. The state Department of Education projects a “critical” shortage of 9,000 teachers this year. Support-staff vacancies hover around 5,000 unfilled positions.

The most immediate problem confronting the new commissioner is the big “Help Wanted” sign in the window. Florida’s students need more qualified, professional teachers and support staff — bus drivers, paraprofessionals and other essential school employees.

To provide all our students with the education they deserve and need, schools must both keep experienced educators and attract new talent. To do one without the other is to pour water into the proverbial sieve.

On the recruitment front, let’s make it less costly to become a teacher. The FEA supports reducing barriers to entering the profession through “grow your own” programs like those in the Florida Keys and in Tennessee, which has built the first federally approved teacher apprenticeship program in the country.

The Tennessee model opens paths into the profession for high school students and for staff such as paraprofessionals who are already working in schools. As former Gov. Jeb Bush wrote in an op-ed published May 13, “The program is designed to allow the future teachers to obtain a bachelor’s degree in three years, debt-free, while being paid, and enter the teaching profession with at least three years’ classroom experience under their belt.” The costs are covered by leveraging federal dollars.

The program shows promise, but it’s important to note that apprenticeships alone will not fix the shortage. Creating new ways to join a profession works well only if people want to enter the field and, if after they make it, they stay. As Diaz suggested, devoting a career to educating kids needs to be viewed as cool — or, at bare minimum, as well respected and fairly paid.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislators have increased starting salaries for teachers and support staff, and those efforts are appreciated. However, because of the 20-plus laws passed by legislators to govern teacher pay, experienced educators were left behind.

The average teacher salary in Florida still ranks near the bottom nationally. Some teachers with 10 years in the classroom are making the same pay as a new hire. As a certified teacher with a long history in education, the commissioner no doubt understands the value of experience and the corrosive effect of unfair treatment — on students and school employees.

Besides fair, competitive pay, there is the issue of respect. The people who devote their careers to educating and nurturing students deserve it. We ask that the new education commissioner stand with our schools against politicians who would drive a wedge between parents and educators for the sake of political gain.

The commissioner, parents, teachers, support staff and administrators are on the same team. When we work together, our students win. That may be a cliché, but it’s nonetheless true — and more than cool.

Andrew Spar is president of the Florida Education Association, representing more than 150,000 preK-12 teachers and education staff professionals, higher education faculty and graduate assistants, students preparing to become teachers, and retired education employees.