5 January 19-25, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | Coconut Grove Arts Festiv; 7.177 in; 8.2084 in; Process color; Mia volume 6:01.19.23:ads - edit:00697407.PDF; MRD8; 00697407.PDF Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ BROWARD FAILING GRADE DESANTIS-BACKED MILITARY VET TEACHING PROGRAM ACCOUNTS FOR ONE TEACHER HIRE IN BROWARD. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN A t the beginning of this school year, the Florida Department of Education launched a pro- gram aimed at attracting mili- tary veterans to teach in public schools to help fill thousands of vacant posi- tions across Florida schools, including nearly 400 open teaching spots in Broward and Mi- ami-Dade school districts. Under the Military Veterans Certification Pathway, veterans with at least 48 months of active service, a minimum of 60 college credits with a 2.5 grade point average, and a passing score on a state subject exam could obtain a five-year temporary teaching certificate with- out a bachelor’s degree, which would be re- quired for ordinary applicants. The Florida legislature created the program via a bill signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in June. “We are leading by example with innova- tive teacher recruitment initiatives and in our support of military and veteran families,” De- Santis said following the August implementa- tion of the program. With the new semester well underway, the program has not delivered what the Depart- ment of Education and DeSantis had hoped in terms of sparking a wave of new hires. According to staffing data provided to New Times, the Broward County Public Schools system has employed only one veteran under the new pathway. As of last month, 165 class- room teaching positions remain unfilled in the county district. Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union, tells New Times the program has struggled to attract qualified applicants despite efforts to promote it. “There’s a very active campaign to encourage and [to help] understand really what’s in the statute,” Fusco says. “We are not discouraging it at all.” Six months after DeSantis signed the tem- porary teaching certification pathway into law, only a handful of applications have trick- led into Broward Schools, according to Fusco. “It is a Band-Aid that hasn’t put any pres- sure on the bleeding, let alone any type of healing,” she tells New Times. “It is across the state. I’ve talked to other [union] presidents. No one is walking in anywhere, even where there is a lower cost of living.” Military.com reported last month the pro- gram accounted for only seven hires across the more-than 70 school districts in Florida. Fusco says that some veterans who wanted to teach through the pathway in Bro- ward did not understand the qualifications required and thought they could apply solely because they had served in the military. “The narrative just got out that we are hir- ing military veterans, and when they really read the statute and come to [the] listening sessions, they realized, ‘Okay, I may need to get a little bit more,’” she says. Florida public schools continue to grapple with a teacher shortage, one that has been ex- acerbated by low pay and a difficult work en- vironment brought about by increasingly tense classroom culture wars. Some teachers have expressed fear of reprisal for broaching sensitive topics in the classroom since the passage of controversial education legislation in Florida, including the Stop W.O.K.E. Act and the Parental Rights in Education bill, AKA “Don’t Say Gay” bill. In a 2022 report, the National Education Association ranked Florida 48th in the nation in average teacher salary, at roughly $51,000. “The way to stop the teacher shortage is to stop villainizing them,” Fusco tells New Times. “We are not sexualizing children... We’re just trying to get through state man- dates, state testing, state standards, curricu- lum, [and] writing extensive lesson plans. It’s the false narrative that needs to stop. Pay bet- ter and treat better.” [email protected] | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
