Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to increase starting pay for Florida teachers. However, some local educators are concerned about how his plan will affect veteran teachers.
On Oct. 7, DeSantis announced he will ask lawmakers to raise the minimum teacher salary to $47,500 in the next legislative session. But while some educators are happy to see a renewed focus on teacher salaries in Florida, others have pointed out flaws in DeSantis’ plan.
Jackie Johnson, spokesperson for Alachua County School Board, said there is concern that only new teachers would benefit.
“While this would certainly help districts recruit more new teachers, it does absolutely nothing to help us retain existing teachers,” she said. “In fact, it could create divisions between beginning teachers and veteran teachers.”
If lawmakers approve DeSantis’ proposal, Johnson said some new teachers could end up earning the same as underpaid veteran educators.
The average starting pay for teachers in Florida is just below $38,000, according to 2017-18 data from the National Education Association.
DeSantis’ announcement comes two weeks after he announced his plan to abolish the controversial Best and Brightest bonus program, a program created by the State of Florida to provide recruitment and retention awards to educators. He plans to replace Best and Brightest with the pay raise idea.
The governor said via press release his budget proposal will increase salaries for about 100,000 teachers across the state and boost Florida’s ranking to second highest in the nation for average starting teacher pay.
The proposal will help alleviate the shortage of teachers in the state, he said in the release.
Alachua County Education Association president Carmen Ward said DeSantis’ announcement has brought more questions than answers regarding how the $600 million he’s requesting will be distributed.
“We don’t know if this is reoccurring. We don’t know where the funds are coming from, or if there’s going to be additional funding for moving this base pay up,” she said. “There’s just a lot of unknown.”
However, Ward said many teachers prefer a salary increase over the Best and Brightest bonus, which she said is a “one-year commitment” that previously discouraged teachers from remaining in the profession.
“We are professional educators, and we want people to be in our profession for more than one year.” said Ward. “Educating students is so important to our civilization. It needs to be valued, and value looks like money.”
Florida Gov. Ron Desantis speaks about the environment to a crowd of about 50 people April 16 at the Steinmetz Hall courtyard.
