Q&A of the Day – How Florida’s Teacher Pay & Shortages Compare to Other States
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.
Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio You forgot this one (with a link to a Click Orlando story picked up by Florida Trend with the headline): Our children are at stake:’ Teacher shortage in Florida among worst in the nation
Bottom Line: Last week’s school choice week was dominated by new policy proposals in the state of Florida, a la Universal School Choice and Governor DeSantis’ educational agenda – including his “Teacher’s Bill of Rights” for the upcoming legislative session. Of course, front and center in that “bill of rights” is another significant round of teacher raises ($1 billion), and provisions greatly lessening the influence of teachers’ unions in the state of Florida. Today’s note is in response to my recent tweet stating... Governor DeSantis' record on education: Record high graduation rate over 90%. Record high performance (4th) on the National Assessment. Florida's University System is now ranked 1st. Notice his critics attack him as opposed to the merit of his agenda - that's all they've got. Now, to give you a flavor of how this story went (though if you’ve ever read Click Orlando – which you probably haven’t you’d likely already know) here’s the lead to the story: Florida’s public schools continue to deal with a shortage of teachers. Vacancies have doubled in the Sunshine State over the last two years, and it’s estimated more than 100,000 students do not have a full-time teacher. Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, joined anchor Justin Warmoth on “The Weekly” to explain why the shortage is getting worse and how it can improve. Hmm... So, let me see, an Orlando media outlet interviewed the president of the FEA and wrote an unchecked story about it. What could possibly be questionable about the material in it? So, let’s dive into the merits of the charges levied in the story because, a) It’s been perpetuated by the News Service of Florida/Florida Trend across the state & b) It’s what’s being presented to the greater than 70% of public-school teachers who are members of the FEA. That makes the narratives advanced in this story relevant to address. So, let’s get to it.
There were multiple key claims in the story which were perpetuated from Spar starting this this one: I think the legislature understands, and I hope the governor does too, that we’ve got to dramatically increase the pay of all teachers in our schools. Now, there are two aspects to this comment in the context of teacher shortages that’s instructive. The first is, when have you ever heard a union president say that their members shouldn’t be paid more? Real news would be if a news reporter found a union head who said, yep – our members are paid plenty. Secondly, he made these comments after Governor DeSantis unveiled the package of $1 billion in additional teacher pay raises, which is $200 million more than even the original planned increases. Perhaps that would have been relevant to include in the story? And yes, I think that would imply the governor is pushing for “dramatically increased teacher pay”. But here’s the next key piece related to the teacher pay angle. Florida’s public-school teachers already make far more than the average full-time employed Floridian and the issue of teacher shortages hasn’t been lessening as their salaries have been rising faster than other professions. This is a dynamic I covered in August at the onset of this school year when the noise regarding teacher shortages was especially loud.
The median salary for public school teachers in Florida, excluding bonuses and benefits, is currently $53,080. This compares to an average full-time salary across all professions in Florida of $48,601. That means excluding benefits, the average teacher is already earning greater than 9% more than those working in other professions and yet that hasn’t changed this related factoid...
While compensation is commonly the area of focus – especially via the union mouth pieces, there is no clear connection between teacher pay and the relative number of teacher shortages in individual states. Obviously, compensation matters, but that’s never been a driving force behind why people have entered the profession in the first place.
One of the biggest catalysts behind the shortage is this:
- Nearly 30% of teachers leave the profession within their first five years
However, the single biggest issue is this one:
- Those enrolled in undergraduate education programs declined by greater than 50% last decade
This illustrates two huge headwinds. Close to a third of those who do become certified educators decide they don’t want it to be their career once in the classroom, but far more still just aren’t interested in becoming educators. Now the state of Florida has dramatically increased teacher compensation – including having one of the highest starting salaries for incoming teachers in the country. Additionally, the bonus program was overhauled in recent years to the general satisfaction of teachers. In other words, to whatever extent money factors into defections, Florida’s been aggressive in addressing the concern. Beyond that, it's nothing new for people to career hop. It’s a matter of fact that fewer than half of college grads in a career which directly pertains to a degree field. Education actually dramatically outperforms other degree fields in this regard.
And that takes us to this claim by Spar: Florida, I think, is one of the worst in the nation. There are some studies out there that show we have the second most number of vacancies in the nation right now.
Yes, Florida has one of the largest teacher shortages by way of vacancies as we’re the third most populous state. What Spar said, however, is both literally and practically inaccurate. Florida’s population accounts for 6.8% of the national population – yet Florida’s teacher shortage is 4.7% of the national total. Florida’s population adjusted teacher shortage is 45% below the national average. There’s a storyline you’ll almost certainly not hear reported elsewhere. That said, the shortage remains for a mix of reasons and obviously education is far from the only profession with shortages. Just look at the trades for example.
The fact of the matter is that there isn’t any specific issue keeping would-be teachers away or that’s leading to current teachers defecting from the profession. There also hasn’t been any connection between rising teacher wages and a change in the trend of those who choose to remain in the profession or those who choose to enter it in the first place. It’s more complicated than that commonly reported trope. As always there are two sides to stories and one side to facts.