Tallahassee, Fla., August 15, 2023 – Today, Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz, Jr. announced Florida schools have 4,776 total teacher vacancies to begin the year, compared to 5,208 vacancies at the start of last school year. This is an 8% decline in teacher vacancies for the first day of school for the 2023-24 school year compared to the 2022-23 school year. With an average of 1.28 vacancies per school, Florida’s vacancy rate is less than the national average of 2 vacancies per school and less than the 1.4 vacancies per school Florida experienced last year.
“It has been a top priority of the Governor, the Florida Legislature and the Department of Education to recruit high-quality teachers to fill our classrooms,” said Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz, Jr. “It is clear from the nearly 10% decline in teacher vacancies reported today that their hard work has paid off.”
Areas across Florida have significantly less teacher vacancies at the start of this school year compared to last school year.
- The counties of Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, and Pinellas have a total of 389 fewer teacher vacancies.
- A decrease of 31% from last year.
- The counties of Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Volusia have a total of 108 fewer teacher vacancies.
- A decrease of 14% from last year.
- The counties of Clay, Duval, Nassau, and St. Johns have a total of 157 fewer teacher vacancies.
- A decrease of 29% from last year.
- The counties of Bay, Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, and Walton have a total of 104 fewer teacher vacancies.
- A decrease of 38% from last year.
The Bureau of Educator Certification (BEC) within the Florida Department of Education has worked extended hours to shorten the time it takes to process an educator certificate to a few days in order to support districts with filling remaining teacher vacancies. Since May of 2023, BEC has processed 23,972 teacher certifications with a focus on proactively working with district school superintendents to address their certification needs. In addition, BEC is sending superintendents a daily communication to indicate individuals who have received a temporary certificate and are still awaiting employment as a teacher in Florida.
Due to Governor DeSantis’ leadership, Florida has prioritized the recruitment and retention of teachers and invested in several initiatives to support this effort, including:
- Signing HB 1 to extend the temporary certification time period from three years to five to provide educators additional time to meet the requirements to receive a Florida Professional Certificate.
- 39,600 teachers benefited from this automatic extension.
- Securing $1.1 billion, an increase of over $250 million from the previous year, to provide salary increases for new and veteran teachers as well as other eligible instructional personnel. With this investment, Florida has committed over $3.3 billion in new funding for teacher pay since 2020.
- Implementing a recruitment bonus for retired military veterans and retired first responders who commit to joining the teaching profession for a minimum of two years.
- Military veterans and retired first responders are eligible for a $4,000 bonus.
- Individuals teaching in high demand teacher needs areas are eligible for a $1,000 bonus.
- Creating the Teacher Apprenticeship Program and Mentor Bonus, to provide individuals who have their associate degree the ability to participate in a two-year, paid and registered apprenticeship program. 2,000 educators who serve as mentors to teacher apprentices will receive $2,000 upon completion of year one and $2,000 upon completion of year two of the program.
- Permitting educators the full temporary certificate validity period to demonstrate mastery of General Knowledge in order to meet the requirements to receive a Florida Professional Certificate.
- Allowing educators on a temporary certificate to satisfy the General Knowledge requirement by receiving an Effective or Highly Effective rating for three years on their evaluation.
- Expanding adjunct certification to support charter schools and extending the validity period of the adjunct certification to five years.
- Establishing the Teacher Bill of Rights in the 2023 legislative session to provide educators with additional protections.
