The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Florida schools still have well over 2,000 teacher openings in January – well after the start of school. There were over 4,000 open teaching positions at the start of the school year but schools are still unable to find the teachers they need to fill critical positions.
Florida’s teaching shortage continues to get worse and it is hurting students.
From the article “In Central Florida, school district websites currently list dozens and dozens of open teacher jobs, including about 35 in Orange County. Those openings include a spot for a physics teacher at Oak Ridge High School, a math teacher at Blankner K-8 School and a fourth-grade teacher at Millennia Elementary School.”
The school board has said the the top priority for the Florida Legislative Session is teacher recruitment and retention. And while pay is certainly going to be a part of that discussion, we know first hand that Florida teacher certification rules has to be a part of the solutions. The rules are definitely keeping people out and the current SOE (statement of eligibility to get a teaching job) is over 9 months right now.
We are going to press hard to solve this problem – and we know we can get it done!
