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“It’s unacceptable to have teachers struggling to make ends meet.”
Lucia Baez-Geller Miami-Dade County School Board Member
Florida ranks 50th in teacher pay according to a recent report by the National Education
Association (NEA). Last year Florida was ranked 48 th and continues move in the wrong direction.
Low teacher salaries, combined with Florida’s rating as the worst in housing affordability, is
having a direct impact on the teacher shortage crisis in Florida.
Low teacher salaries contribute to financial challenges for educators, forcing many to work
multiple jobs or leave the profession in search of better pay. This financial strain affects job
satisfaction and retention rates, leading to high turnover and a shortage of experienced
teachers in schools. Ultimately, the quality of education suffers as a result.
When teachers feel undervalued and underpaid, morale and job satisfaction decrease, leading to burnout and higher turnover rates. This disrupts the continuity of education for students and exacerbates the teacher shortage crisis. Barbara Goleman Senior High teacher, Alicia Gant, is considering leaving Miami-Dade County Public Schools for the Washington DC School District where they have offered her a $99,000
base salary.
“Recently, I have had to make the very hard decision to leave Miami-Dade County
to move to a state where I can afford to live on a teacher’s salary. This is a very emotional
decision because all of my family is here. I just can’t afford to live in Miami-Dade,” a teary-eyed Gant told reporters gathered at United Teachers of Dade (UTD) on Tuesday morning.
Despite small increases in teacher pay from the Florida legislature and the governor, these
increases have not kept pace with alarming increases in housing affordability. The net result is teachers in Florida are in a worse financial position today than just four years ago. A large portion of Miami-Dade teachers work second jobs in the evenings and on weekends to afford the high cost of living in their county.
Through the efforts of United Teachers of Dade, the county’s teachers’ union, local
referendums were passed in 2018 and 2022 to supplement salaries by an average of 12%. “The teacher pay referendums were a major financial investment by our union, UTD, to address the failure of our state legislature to solve this crisis. UTD led the effort and we won for our teachers and students,” declared Karla Hernandez-Mats, President of UTD.
Investing in competitive teacher salaries is crucial to attracting and retaining qualified
educators. By prioritizing education funding and creating supportive work environments,
policymakers and school districts can work towards addressing the issue of the teacher
shortage crisis that is affecting Miami-Dade and Florida.
South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez joined the chorus of local leaders calling for action on Tuesday, “Simply put the governor has not prioritized solving this problem or other housing
affordability issues like sky rocketing property insurance rates that are making the problem
even worse. For the sake of our students, this must be addressed now.”
