While Florida’s Department of Education took up a report that showed a great need for teachers statewide in areas such as exceptional student education, math and English, state and local education representatives found fault—and even some disrespect— from the DOE.
Stats show that teaching vacancies dropped from 76 to 68 in Osceola County in the last year. In neighboring counties the data is mixed—the vacancy number is 56, down from 75, in much-larger Orange County, and 412, up from 309, in Polk. Statewide, the number is listed at 2,363 by the Florida Education Association, up from 2,260.
The state’s report did show the state’s teaching needs occur, “Where larger than typical proportions of teachers who are not certified in the appropriate field are being hired to teach courses where significant vacancies exist, and where postsecondary institutions do not produce enough graduates to meet the needs of Florida’s K-12 student population.”
For example, about 8,900 of the 37,200 total English courses taught statewide had teachers during the 20242025 school year not certified in the field, according to the report. In exceptional student education, nearly 12,000 of the 57,504 total courses had teachers not certified in the field.
Both Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar and Osceola County Education Association President Janet Moody noted that out-of-field teaching, especially in exceptional education, remains high.
“Osceola’s need is in ESE. Those teachers are hard to retain because of the demands on those teachers,” Moody said. “So, we have a lot of teachers teaching out of field. There was federal funding to assist them in getting certified, but that funding’s been cut.”
Josey McDaniel, the department’s deputy chancellor for educator quality, told the Board of Education that its report is, “Not a determination that Florida has a teacher shortage. “Instead, it’s a strategic, datainformed tool that identifies subject areas of greatest need across the state. The purpose is to ensure that our recruitment, preparation and incentive efforts remain targeted and aligned with student demand.”
Paul Burns, senior chancellor at the Department of Education, said the numbers show that teachers are not leaving Florida jobs in droves.
“We look at a cohort of teachers and we see, where was that cohort of teachers when they started and then where were they five years out,” he said. “The data is really pretty clear that over three-quarters of those teachers are still employed in a district.”
But, the FEA notes that since the 2019-20 school year, when Gov. Ron DeSantis took office, the number of courses taught by teachers not certified in the appropriate field has more than doubled (45,975 in 2018-19 to 94,443 in 2024-25), saying, “At the same time, 31% of teachers in the classroom last year had fewer than four years of experience, “Showing a system stuck in churn, not recovery.”
Spar said the issue isn’t just the number of vacancies in classrooms.
“It’s what these shortages mean for students and what our state’s leaders are going to do to fix the massive problem their own reports highlight,” he said in a statement submitted by the FEA. “The state’s own reports show classrooms increasingly staffed by educators who are stretched thin, teaching out of field, or leaving the profession altogether, and it’s students—especially those with the greatest needs—that pay the price when positions go unfilled and experienced teachers are pushed out.”
Spar did say the Legislature has proposed solutions, such as allowing long-term contracts for qualified, high-quality educators and giving school districts more flexibility to pay teachers competitively, and the Governor has an opportunity to support them.
“Any progress on vacancies is welcome, but if even one student is left without a permanent, certified teacher, the problem isn’t fixed. The Legislature must ensure that every child, no matter their neighborhood or background, has consistent access to a qualified educator and a high-quality public education.”
Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas said concerns about student behavior are the biggest issue associated with teacher recruitment and retention.
“I would call out our administrators across the state to support teachers when they’re asking for help in their classrooms, and when they need help with behavioral issues with these students, give them the help they need, listen to them,” Kamoutsas said.
Moody said she disagrees with that comment, saying it just deflects away from Florida teachers being 50th in the nation in pay.
“Teachers can’t make a living wage to take their families on a vacation, or save for retirement,” she said. “It’s just more of the disrespect we get about our salary, and how we’re treated by administration, parents and the state.”
Information from the News Service of Florida’s Stephanie Kanowitz and the Florida Education Association was used in this story. Editor Ken Jackson also contributed.
