Legislators in Florida are considering a bill that would help retired teachers return to the workforce.
Senate Bill 1482 would eliminate the requirement for retired teachers and other school personnel who have taken part in the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) to have been out of work for six months before starting new employment.
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Taking aim at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, said: “We’ve all heard the governor’s talking points about his investments in teachers and education, but the governor won’t tell you the truth about education in Florida, which is that our state ranks 48th in the nation in average teacher salary, 43rd in the nation in per student spending, and doesn’t even crack the top 10 in average teacher starting salary or average earnings for K-12 education support professionals.”
Ah yes, because the law these morons passed that prevents them from being rehired for 6 months is the problem, not the horrible pay, worse teaching conditions, and the ever present threat of civil and criminal charges for even hinting that LGBTQ people actually exist. I’m sure repealing that little clause will fix everything.
For me it’s also the measles thing currently going on
Yeah, I’m just waiting for the summer when the yearly exodus is going to spread measles all over the place. I’m just so happy they’ve decided that unvaccinated kids with known exposures don’t have to quarantine - with an infectivity rate of 15, what could possibly to wrong?!
Let’s not forget all the shootings.
That is not Florida specific.
When the conversation is specifically about Florida maybe it is?
It’s so weird that here in my state they are having 100+ applicantions for every open position.
Could It be because it pays one of the higher wages in the nation and the state next to it pays on average 1/3 less.
It’s almost as if there is no teacher shortage, there is a shortage of pay to teachers.
The Florida Legislature currently has HB13 waiting to pass. It ups the minimum wage for teachers to $65k. Would start Fall 2024.
It doesn’t fix all of the issues, but I was happy to see that bill. https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/13
I bet it doesn’t pass, that’s far too reasonable for the Florida legislature in general, and Ron DeSantis in particular.
I initially read that as “Florida scrambles to get retired teachers to return to combat.”
Which isn’t really wrong either.
Were the front line on the war against stupidity.
And guns. And measles. Don’t forget the guns though.
I read it that way too. Agreed about it being an oddly accurate description.
Well, didn’t they say that soldiers could teach? (The front line are probably safer.)
To combat their idiotic fight against the made-up problem they call “wokeness”.
All the knowledge in the World is at our fingertips and some of us choose to put on blinds…
yeah it’s so weird that a state like Florida can’t find enough teachers to work there
Texas is going to be in the same boat. I know of two other teachers from the high school I teach at doing the same thing I’m doing and leaving the state this summer.
Indiana is facing a teacher drain as well, in part because we pay our teachers terribly. My daughter had a shitty substitute teacher for all of fifth grade. She had no idea how to do things. I had to raise hell about some of the things she did (like punish my daughter for not saying the pledge of allegiance) and my daughter only told me about some of them later (she pushed Trump’s Big Lie on the kids).
And she’s had teachers who aren’t much better in terms of skill.
Edit: Even that so-called teacher quit public school at the end of the year to, appropriately, go work in a Christian private school.
Suuuuper weird. I’m willing to bet that they will settle for substandard teachers to fill the void. Teachers who will be okay with not teaching “challenging” topics like equal rights and evolution
Hell, they are already letting people without teaching certificates teach as long as they are veterans.
Are they really?
Throwing in someone potentially suffering from PTSD into a classroom filled with sociopathic teenagers sounds like a great idea.
Yup. De Santis is giving veterans 5 year temporary teaching certificates even if they have no other qualifications.
I mean – that’s the army. :-D
LOL. Fair enough.
Service guarantees citizenship! Would you like to know more?
This is disingenuous. They don’t just step off the battlefield into teaching.
You have to be a veteran, spent 2 years at college(no degree), and also pass a 4-hour ‘Florida Subject Area Test’ with a score of at least 71% in each subject they plan to teach.
Lmao.
I have to assume you are being sarcastic but in case you are not (no /s):
That is not much better. The first couple years of college are pretty basic courses that do not help someone know how to teach. Getting a C- on a test in a subject does not really instill confidence that they know the subject well…and can teach. Just because you know a subject does not mean you know shit about teaching.
It’s not disingenuous if it’s factual. Thanks for confirming the comments truthfulness.
I suspect the comment was sarcastic given the low requirements they offered.
Cool, the “The Mighty Whitey Righty Curriculum.”
Lol.
Believe me Florida does not make it easy to be a teacher and Ron Desantis’s policies have a lot to do with this.
But the primary factor is pay. Teachers are laughably under paid in Fl. My sister has been teaching for 15 years makes little more than she did when she started. Most of the teachers my two older kids had in their elementary school have left for better paying careers. The number of teachers moving into the profession is not enough to compensate for retiring older teachers and the loss of teachers to other professions.
It’s simple supply and demand. Pay your fucking people and they will stay.
It’s simple supply and demand. Pay your fucking people and they will stay.
Well, that’s part of the equation.
The other part is: Don’t treat them like shit.
“Come out of retirement. However, if you say the wrong thing, you’re fired.”
if you say the wrong thing
…or use the wrong books
Or dress the wrong way…
Or end up behind bars.
Florida logic for you
“Lol Grandma, we need you to come out of retirement! The woke mind virus killed all tbe teachers and everyones blaming me!” -DeSantis, probably
A very good friend of mine used to live and work in Florida but moved away years ago. He is a teacher now in another state and has always wanted to move back, but because he’s gay he doesn’t feel like it’s an option for him. He used to frequent Pulse.
It’s really sad for folks like him, and the state didn’t have to do this to themselves but they chose to.
Read the headline and thought they were drafting retired teachers for combat situations.
It’s the U.S., they practically are.
I must be a jaded fucking US citizen (or maybe a normal one) for thinking the same. And it’s Florida, so that wouldn’t be surprising in the least.
I’m sure the headline was constructed exactly for that reason.
These red states are so hostile to education, and they are now finding out what happens.
In the medical space, I’m seeing a lot of people leave Florida and Texas. And looks like the teachers are doing the same.
It is on purpose. The GOP wants an uneducated populace.
On one hand, we want our people to be as dumb as possible, but on the other hand, nobody wants to be teachers at our state sponsored daycare for their kids
Have they tried NOT making schools a hostile work evironment where teachers are one baseless accusation of being “woke” away from getting fired and getting death threats from the community? Have they tried not censoring speech and burning books such that teachers can do their jobs? No? Good luck with that then.
After all these years of complaining that one baseless sexual harassment allegation will get you fired, they’ve now made a system where being “woke” gets you fired. Irony level: Darth Plagueis the Wise.
More: have they ever considered making public school NOT be run like a jail?
Superintendent: “Hello, Mrs. Baumgartner, would you be willing to fill in as a substitute?”
Mrs. Baumgartner: “Lol, no. Get fukt.”
“But we’ll pay you $50 a day”
Didn’t they just announce they had more money than they budgeted for, so they were sending checks out to people? Maybe keep some of that money and pay teachers more.
Why buy a few votes when you can buy a lot?
On average, teachers a
tre smart people. They know why they prefer to work elsewhere…(Most) teachers don’t eat people.
You are what you eat so I suppose I’m happy they’re not eating dumb people.
Don’t worry, they’ll just change and lower the requirements until they no longer have to rely on smart people.
If they lower them far enough, they could even use Republican politicians as teachers.
“We’ve made the job even worse than it was when you were in the field, why not come back to work under worse conditions for less pay?”
Pay the teachers better and let them do their jobs. My local county is top heavy with overpaid administrators. They could probably cut the admins in half and hire more teachers with better pay. But no, gotta have 6 figure useless oversight.
