Florida Education Association (FEA) President Andrew Spar joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed why he believes a law allowing veterans to teach without a teaching degree is a shortsighted, ineffective attempt to fix the state’s widespread teacher shortage.
Florida currently faces a teacher shortage as there are roughly 5,000 open positions. Additionally, there are about 4,000 open support staff positions. This is the worst shortage he has ever seen and explained why the Florida law that allows veterans to teach in schools without a teaching degree is not the answer to the crisis.
To solve the problem, he suggested several options including raising teacher salaires. Spar also noted there are more than 20 Florida laws that either penalize or discourage teachers with experience, which has exacerbated the teacher shortage. He urged these laws to be changed.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics.