“Voters are watching- and they don’t like what they see.”
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Today, the Florida Education Association released the latest data on teacher vacancies in the state of Florida. At the start of a new school year, nearly every district in the state is advertising unfilled positions in Elementary Education, ESE and Speech Language Pathology with no significant improvement in the vacancies for education staff professionals.
“When Governor DeSantis and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. pat themselves on the back because they have funded corporate-run schools and micro schools in strip malls, they are doing so at the expense of students in Florida’s public schools by literally siphoning billions each year away from public schools. Make no mistake— this is on purpose,” said Andrew Spar, President of the Florida Education Association. “It should not be lost on anyone, that right now, nearly 5,000 classrooms do not have a professionally trained teacher, impacting potentially over 100,000 students. Additionally, we continue to hear from teachers around the state that classrooms are overflowing with students and teachers are scrambling to find more desks and chairs. The issue remains— Florida is one of the wealthiest states in the nation and yet anti-public education politicians have made the choice to keep Florida teachers ranked at the bottom of the nation in average pay, have not made significant strides in fixing the critical teacher shortage, and have worked hard to disparage teachers along the way. Voters are watching- and they don’t like what they see.”
Data shows that there are currently 5,007 instructional vacancies, a jump from numbers reported in January of this year, but a decrease from the number reported in August 2023. There has been no positive movement made in education support staff vacancies, with 4,835 vacancies being reported— an increase of 1,378 vacancies from the numbers reported in January 2024. Nearly every district in the state reports vacancies in Elementary Education, ESE and Speech Language Pathology. An additional 700 teacher aides are needed for classroom support for non-ESE students and nearly every district is in need of bus drivers and substitute teachers.
Students across the state are feeling the weight of increased class sizes and not enough teachers or support professionals.
“English teachers need reasonable class loads so they can grade student writing. The class size amendment, when it was being followed, helped make that possible. But now we don’t have enough teachers,” said David Finkle, a high school English teacher At DeLand High School. “Teachers at my high school have close to and upwards of 200 students. For most of my career 150 students seemed like a lot. Now I have over 180. In a school of over 3,000 students, we have only 3.3 English teachers for seniors. It is not the school’s fault. We simply aren’t being funded well enough— we are being set up to fail.”
“Schools cannot function without education staff professionals who make learning environments safe, who keep schools running, who keep children fed, and who ensure students can get to school and back safely and on time,” said Tracy Cooper, a bus driver from Orange County. “It’s appalling that our students have to bear the brunt of a state that refuses to pay teachers and staff fairly, and that refuses to fund the critical infrastructure needs of students of all ages. Public schools and the students who thrive in them are not here to simply be political talking points- we need to address this critical shortage.”
Students deserve a free, world class public education with qualified teachers and staff in every classroom, and teachers deserve to provide for their families with one job. FEA has called on lawmakers to increase funding by $2.5 billion a year for the next 7 years to address inadequate salaries so Florida’s teachers are in the top 10 in average pay, to hire more mental health specialists and to address the academic needs of students. FEA is also calling on the state to enhance the Florida Retirement System without burdening employees with extra cost and ensure that corporate-run schools are not funded with dollars meant for public schools. The Florida Education Association counts vacancies posted on district websites twice annually, in August and January. A county-by-county breakdown of the vacancy numbers can be found here.
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CONTACT: Kat Canfield, feapress@floridaea.org, (850) 201-3223
The Florida Education Association is the state’s largest association of professional employees, with 120,000 members. FEA represents PreK-12 teachers, higher education faculty, educational staff professionals, students at our colleges and universities preparing to become teachers and retired education employees.
