While the lazy days of summer wind down to a close and Florida students prep to head back to school, one important aspect of the learning process may be absent before school even begins.
Teachers -- the ones who are primarily responsible for student learning in the classroom -- are getting scarcer and scarcer in certain parts of the state, with critical teacher shortages affecting some of the state’s largest school districts.
A new report from ABC Action News found a high number of vacancies in the Greater Tampa Bay Area, with as many as 500 openings for teachers in Hillsborough County, the third-largest school district in the state.
Each year, the State Board of Education identifies “critical” teacher shortages in specific subjects. During the 2015-2016 school year, teacher shortages were most prevalent a wide variety of subjects -- in English, exceptional student education, reading, English for speakers of a second language, science and mathematics.
Those subjects aren’t necessarily uncommon for teacher shortages.
“Those [subjects] have been pretty consistent over the last few years [for critical teacher shortages,]” Florida Department of Education Deputy Communications Director Cheryl Etters told Sunshine State News.
But the recommended critical teacher shortage areas for the 2015-2016 school year were some of the ones with the highest projected vacancies as well as the highest current number of vacancies.
If districts can’t fill those vacancies, substitute teachers will often take over in place of regular full-time teachers. Often times, teacher vacancies remain unfilled well into the school year, leaving students with fewer teachers to educate them in specific subjects.
Why are teacher shortages pervading throughout Florida?
Part of the reason for a teacher shortage is because many teachers are retiring from the field. Dozens of news reports from around the state have documented scores of teachers retiring after serving many years educating Florida students.
Teachers retire for a variety of reasons, from just feeling their time is up or deciding to call it quits on the profession, frustrated as a result of poorly-managed school districts. Others are annoyed over an abundance of standardized testing, which they say has been detrimental to their profession.
“Everybody that's even close to retirement or has a chance to get out is jumping ship as quick as they can,” said Mike Gandolfo, President of the Pinellas County Classroom Teachers’ Association, told ABC Action News.
Teachers flock to Florida with high hopes, but many are quick to high-tail it out of the state education system. Florida’s teacher attrition rate tends to be around 15 to 20 percent higher than other states’, and state records show 40 percent of Florida teachers leave the profession within five years.
Some teachers leave the profession as a result of being underpaid. The average teacher salary in Florida is a little over $48,000, but that number can be larger or smaller depending on the district. Some teachers make as little as $33,000.
State statistics show that of the 194,000 teachers in over 3,200 schools statewide, nearly 96 percent are teaching “in-field,” specializing in the subject area they have education and training in, and nearly 8,400 (around four percent) are teaching “out-of-field,” which means they are working as teachers in subjects where they have little training or education.
Districts submit “Day One” reports to the FDOE on unfilled teacher positions on the first day of school each year. Last year, Hillsborough County had the highest number of vacancies on the first day of school, with 210 openings for teachers grades Pre-K-12. Miami-Dade had the second-highest number of openings, with 208 vacancies last year.
This year’s Day One report is not yet available.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
