JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis announced plans Wednesday to ask the legislature for $600 million to boost teacher pay. It comes in an effort to mitigate the teacher shortage.
“Our goal is to increase particularly the average minimum salary in the state of Florida so we can continue to attract great people into the teaching profession,” DeSantis said in a Jacksonville news conference. “When I became governor, the average minimum salary was around $40,000, and now it’s close to around $47,000, and with our proposal, we’re gonna be in a really, really good spot.”
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Part of the plan is to give existing educators another $1,000 bonus, but local teachers like DCPS educator Elwood Thompson feel there needs to be more focus on existing school staff.
Elwood has been teaching for over 30 years. He didn’t get into it for the money — he knows that clearly.
“I only make a little bit more than a new teacher, I think it’s officially $91 more, with all my years of experience,” Thompson said.
He says supporting current teachers and school staff will mitigate the shortages across Florida.
“Current teachers are not happy. We are losing current educators because they’re not being compensated, they’re not being taken care of, they’re being overburdened,” he added.
Last month, the Florida Education Association counted over 5,000 teacher openings across the state. That’s a 67 percent increase from last year to this year.
FEA president Andrew Spar is calling on Governor DeSantis to collaborate with school districts and lawmakers.
“What we should be doing right now is lifting up the people who work in our public schools, investing in them,” Spar told Action News Jax.
As for Thompson, he loves his students.
“I care about education, I care about that,” Thompson said. “I want them to be good people.”
Thompson’s students are the reason he chooses to stay.
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Governor DeSantis also wants to raise this year’s budget to $8,000 per student. His office says that budget will become the highest per-student funding in Florida’s history.
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