Florida's statewide teachers union says teacher and staff vacancies have gone up in the first half of the school year despite signs the state's ongoing teacher shortage was showing modest improvements.
The Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, conducts a count of teacher vacancies in August and then again in January every year. In August, there were 2,260 vacancies. Now, there are 2,363 vacancies statewide.
That's unexpected, says the teacher's union. Usually these numbers improve as the year goes on and districts have the chance to fill open positions.
"By the middle of the year, most positions should already be filled. Instead, with thousands of vacancies still halfway through the year, the data reflects a larger problem: these vacancies aren't just unfilled but are positions that districts simply can't fill," read a statement from the FEA.
The FEA calls this uptick in vacancies "a troubling sign that the situation is getting worse not better."
The Florida Department of Education didn't respond to a request for a comment on this story.
The union says turnover is so high in the state that 31% of teachers last year had four years or less of classroom experience.
The FEA says Florida's universal voucher program and an affordability crisis has pushed teachers and other educational staff out of the state, along with "policies targeting migrant communities."
In August, Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrated fewer teacher vacancies than the previous school year. An analysis by Central Florida Public Media, confirmed that indeed, at that time, the teacher shortage was improving in every Central Florida public school district.
Even though these vacancies have increased from the start of the year, the total vacancies, which number 2,363 are a far cry from the over 7,000 vacancies the state logged shortly after the height of the COVID pandemic.
Check out a table of the newest teacher vacancies data from the Florida Education Association:
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