Florida issues a 5-year Temporary Certificate for veterans who have not yet earned their degree

50% don't make it past five years. The real joke is when people talk about how teachers are overpayed because of those sweet pensions, but the pensions don't usally vest until 7 years. Most teachers get low pay in exchange for the pension, and then never get anything from the pension.

 

On the surface, this isn’t a horrible idea in the context of there being a teacher shortage (necessitating “shortcuts” to qualifications such as this). It’s a stopgap. A stopgap with likely unintended consequences of further alienating fully qualified teachers.

It also does absolutely nothing to address the underlying reasons why Florida can’t hire good teachers in the first place.

Seems to me if you are going to do a stopgap thing, it isn’t going to be productive if it doesn’t address the underlying issue, and could even be a net negative if it is alienating existing teachers. As someone above suggested, we can’t discount there may be disreputable intentions to this “stopgap”.

 

Right, but that would require the state government to have some interest in public education (beyond ideological policing).

 

I'm trying to understand this. They're making veterans who have only completed two years of college (assuming 15 hours per semester) eligible to serve as teachers?

 

Yeah, instead of trying to fix the problems causing the shortage, it seems like they're just lowering the bar to make less qualified people able to work as teachers.

 

To be fair, that is a lot easier.

 

That doesn't show up in the FLDOE page about it.

Military Personnel, Veterans & Spouses

Effective July 1, 2022, Florida issues a 5-year Temporary Certificate for military veterans who have not yet earned their bachelor’s degrees and meet the following eligibility:

• Minimum of 48 months of military service with an honorable/medical discharge
• Minimum of 60 college credits with a 2.5 grade point average
• Passing score on a Florida subject area examination for bachelor’s level subjects
• Employment in a Florida school district, private organization or state-supported school

Before applying for this pathway, complete a waiver request for the Military Certification Fees Waiver (MCFW).

 

I haven't taught in FL for 10 years, but earning a teaching position in a public school has always required a degree and a FL teacher's certificate. Employers could not hire teachers w/o both credentials.

 

There's a doctor shortage. Maybe we can allow all vets to start operating.

 

It was 10 yrs to become vested when I taught. Fortunately, the university years counted, as they are part of FRS.

 

The other thing here is the direct face slap to teacher preparation programs. The folks in higher ed are working to prepare the next generation of teachers and here comes a fast lane for non-qualified individuals. Imagine what the college kids think, earning their degrees in education. Meanwhile, the fast track certificate is good for five years? What an idiotic policy contrived by people who obviously know nothing about the teaching profession. DeSantis continues his war on education.

 

Yep, some school districts are at ten years. Meaning even fewer teachers are making up for the low pay with that sweet pension money. They just get low pay, dumped on by politicians, burnt out, and leave the profession without anything to show for it.

 

Wouldn't vesting parameters be statewide? Salaries are determined at the district level, but I thought the 10yr rule was through FRS.

 

New hires have different options now. Either traditional pension or an investment plan. Most new teachers that I know haven chosen the investment plan.

https://www.myfrs.com/pdf/forms/BCS.pdf

 

As a veteran, I agree. Military experienced alone should not substitute for a degree for five years. Not fair to the civilians, and not fair to the students.

 

Sure, but how long do they have to teach in order to actually receive the benefit (become vested)? For me it was 10 yrs. I taught for 9, then went back to school. Fortunately, I taught more years after that, which made me eligible for a minuscule pension, which I opted to convert to the investment plan. It's not much, but it has tripled over the course of 10 years. But had I not taught beyond the first nine years, I would have received nothing.

 

Not all school districts are in the state of Florida, I was commenting more generally than you were reading