Florida Scrambles to Get Retired Teachers to Return to Combat Shortage

Legislators in Florida are considering a bill that would help retired teachers return to the workforce.

Senate Bill 1482 would eliminate the requirement for retired teachers and other school personnel who have taken part in the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) to have been out of work for six months before starting new employment.

DROP allows teachers to put their retirement benefits into a trust fund where it accrues interest while they continue working. However, those who have retired in Florida while using the scheme must wait six months if they decide they want to return to the classroom.

SB 1482 would get rid of the need for teachers looking to rejoin the workforce to wait half a year. The bill's text does not mention a new time limit set on when retired staff members can take another post. If signed into law, the legislation would be in effect from July 1, 2024.

A related bill, HB 1097, was passed to the Florida Senate last year, with SB 1482 issued in January this year by Democratic Representative Jennifer "Rita" Harris.

"We're dealing with a staff shortage, and we're also dealing with population growth all at the same time," Harris said, according to a report by cable news television channel Spectrum News 13. "So, I feel like this is something we can apply short term to basically get people in while we try to figure out the longer strategy." Newsweek has contacted Harris for comment via her contact form on the Florida Senate website outside of a normal working hours.

High numbers of vacancies in the education sector have been reported. The Florida Education Association, the state's largest association of professional employees, has said that, as of the middle of the current school year, there are 4,096 advertised instructional vacancies and 3,457 support staff vacancies in Florida schools.

"A shortage of more than 4,000 teachers is more than the population of teachers in 19 of Florida's smallest counties combined," the association said in a report on January 17. "Four thousand teacher vacancies means that there are potentially hundreds of thousands of students in Florida who do not have access to a full-time teacher."

The issue has been persistent. Previous reporting by Newsweek in 2023 showed the extent of the teacher shortage in Florida. There were multiple reasons for why so few new teachers are being recruited and why so many are choosing to leave the profession.

Taking aim at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, said: "We've all heard the governor's talking points about his investments in teachers and education, but the governor won't tell you the truth about education in Florida, which is that our state ranks 48th in the nation in average teacher salary, 43rd in the nation in per student spending, and doesn't even crack the top 10 in average teacher starting salary or average earnings for K-12 education support professionals."