Teacher Shortage: DeSantis To Lure 1st Responders, Vets With Bonuses

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL — With Florida facing a critical shortage of public school teachers, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced three proposals to be considered during the 2023 legislative session to recruit and provide bonuses for retired first responders and military veterans who become teachers.

During a news conference at River Ridge High School in New Port Richey Monday, DeSantis said he is proposing a recruitment initiative to put retired first responders and military veterans to the classroom by offering them bonuses and fee waivers.

DeSantis' proposal also includes an apprenticeship program that provides bonuses to teachers for mentoring aspiring teachers with an associate’s degree to gain hands-on teaching experience and a scholarship program for K-12 teachers interested in teaching dual-enrollment courses on high school campuses.

“These three initiatives will build on our efforts to increase recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers," DeSantis said. "Great teachers don’t become great teachers because they are sitting in a university lecture hall. What makes a teacher great is being in the classroom, watching other teachers and seeing what works. Our students will greatly benefit from these programs.”

He said the initiative will help more people entering the teaching field to gain firsthand experience while giving first responders and veterans a chance to continue to serve their community.

“Our No. 1 educational priority is ensuring there is a high-quality teacher in every single Florida classroom,” said Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz Jr. “I have been holding roundtable meetings with teachers from across the state to learn more about steps we can take to improve our recruitment and retention efforts.”

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DeSantis reviewed his efforts to recruit teachers during a news conference in Escambia County Wednesday, where he was asked about the issue of teachers leaving the field of education due to the low pay and the rising cost of living.

Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar said there were more than 8,000 teacher vacancies and 6,000 support staff vacancies in Florida as students prepared to return to the classroom last week.

"Here in the state of Florida, low pay is a major problem," Spar said Monday during an interview with CNN. "We call it the teacher experience penalty. The more experience you have, the lower the pay. We literally have situations in Florida where teachers with 25 years of experience are making less today than teachers with 25 years of experience made 15 years ago. This reduction in pay is driving people out of the profession. And respect is vital in this work and when you have a governor who's literally going around the state maligning teachers, vilifying teachers and staff who work in our schools, it's no wonder people are leaving in droves."

"That's obviously something we're sensitive to," DeSantis replied. "That's why we've put a record amount of money in the state of Florida into it, and telling the districts you've got to use to increase pay because there's a lot of other things you can spend money on, and I'm not saying there aren't things that are meritorious, but if you can get somebody who's really talented to be a teacher, that supersedes all of the other factors because they're going to be able to inspire all of the students.

He said Florida has taken a number of steps to elevate teacher salaries including appropriating $800 million in the 2022 to raise the minimum salaries of new teachers. "

"We've done a lot on the teacher pay to now make us No. 1 in the Southeast for an average minimum, so if you're someone who's in the Navy here or in the Air Force over in Okaloosa, and you're getting out, you can now go in (to teaching) and you're going to be better off than any other state in the Southeast right off the bat. And obviously you'll get a bonus on top of that."

He said a lot of the problems that resulted in teachers leaving education were caused by teacher unions during the coronavirus pandemic.

"The unions wanted the schools closed. They sued me in Florida to close the schools in the summer of 2020," DeSantis said. "Think about it, the unions were suing me to get the schools closed because they were saying most teachers aren't essential. I think most teachers believe they are essential. If you can just do this on Zoom, why do we build all these schools. Of course, you need to be in the classroom. It was such a no-brainer. But I think that really hurt morale around the country because you basically had governors, mayors and unions saying, 'You can lock kids out of school for a year. Just put them on a (computer) screen, and it's fine.' You actually had some of these public health bureaucrats saying, 'Oh, yeah, keep them out. The kids are resilient.' Now everyone's cataloging the damage that was done in all these other places."

DeSantis said his teaching initiatives demonstrate the value of teachers.

"What we're trying to do in Florida by going with our military, trying to get some of our heroes in society pointed in the direction of being in our schools as teachers, we're saying we view that as a very valuable thing. And we're going to do more on the pay. And I'll have an announcement on that in the coming weeks, but nobody has delivered more for teacher pay than me in the history of this state."

DeSantis' 3-Pronged Initiative

The bonuses for retired military veterans and retired first responders would provide:

• One-time bonuses to retired military veterans and retired first responders who commit to joining the teaching profession for two years as a full-time classroom teacher.
• Allow recipients to be eligible for an additional bonus, beyond the initial signing bonus, if they teach in a Florida Department of Education-identified school with a critical teacher shortage.
• An expansion of the waiver of certification exam fees to all retired first responders.

The teacher apprenticeship temporary certification program would:

• Establish an additional pathway to becoming an educator. It will be the 13th teaching pathway offered in Florida.
• Require applicants have an associate’s degree from an accredited postsecondary institution, a 3.0 cumulative grade point average, and a successful passage of a background check.
• Upon receiving a temporary certificate, would require the apprentice to spend the first two years in the classroom of a mentor teacher to further develop skills. This component would fulfill the on-the-job training component of the apprenticeship, allowing teachers to earn a paycheck while working toward their bachelor’s degrees.
• Require mentor teachers to have at least seven years of teaching experience and good ratings and district reviews.
• Make mentor teachers eligible for a bonus, half of which would be paid after the first successful year of the apprenticeship and half after the second year.

The dual enrollment educator scholarship program:

• Establishes opportunities for K-12 teachers to receive scholarship funds toward their master’s degree to cover the full cost of tuition and fees and includes a book stipend each semester.
• Once educators earn their master’s degree, they will be able to provide dual enrollment coursework directly to students on a high school campus, increasing the availability of access to dual enrollment in Florida’s high schools, particularly in low-moderate income and rural schools.
• Requires applicants be accepted into, or currently enrolled in, an approved graduate program in a subject in their area of certification and complete their graduate degree within three years of the award.

Last week, DeSantis also announced the Military Veterans Certification Pathway initiative that is being considered by the Florida Board of Education Wednesday that would allow retired military veterans to obtain a five-year temporary teaching certificates without a bachelor's degree, so they can teach in Florida public schools while obtaining their college degrees.