Teaching Hellhole in Florida

From Teachers.net this response to a question by someone wanting to know if it really is "that bad" in Florida for teachers:

Take it from an old-timer of 20+ years in FL, being an educator in this
state, has always been an underpaid(FL ranks 47/50 in teacher salaries)
career. Now, it is also an extremely insecure way to earn a living.
This is especially true for the new folks, like you and your
boyfriend. What this all boils down to is: 1. The state of FL wants to
eventually extricate itself from the business of educating the young
people of this state. In the long run, this will eliminate their
obligation to pay pensions or any other benefits to retirees. 2. The
state of FL wants, especially the governor and his cronies in the
legislature, to privatize education, having their corporate 'friends'
run schools with a "for profit" mindset. Who cares if the corporation
has to meet standards? Surely not the state. The teachers will still
have all the accountability dumped on their backs. With the new
evaluation system, this will ensure that FL will become a 'revolving
door' state for educators. Eventually, the tenured folks will all be
retired, then the non-tenured can be easily terminated. Being salaried
at the top end of the teacher pay scale will be a thing of the past,
because the privatized school administrators will rid themselves of
their expensive, experienced teachers. A teacher's effectiveness will
not count. If they have become an expensive commodity, they WILL be
gone. This has already happened in my school district (Polk) with the
charters. A friend of mine was 'let go' just last summer because she
was in that charter for ten years. All of her evaluations were
excellent, and her students did average to above average on FCAT
tests. Her higher than starting level salary was the reason she was
terminated. With no tenure or due-process, she had no legal 'leg to
stand on.' FL after all, is a 'Right to Work' state. Fortunately for
her, she had renewed her 'leave of absence' with the public school
district each of those ten years, so she just moved back into a public
school classroom. Non-tenured folks will NOT be have this type of
opportunity to protect their livelihood. In the not too distant future,
I envision $10 an hour automatrons teaching from their Marzano or LFS
scripts. (Districts are already using these programs, so
the "automatron" remark is not so far-fetched).

The cost of living here is high, probably more so than where you
currently are. The only thing that has dropped dramatically is the cost
of homes. Food, clothing, gasoline, and other consumers goods are not
cheap, and there's state sales tax on necessities, like clothing. I
would not mind paying into my pension,IF I were already making a decent
salary to begin with. I am in one of the worst counties for teacher
salaries (Polk), compared to the districts that border this one. We
haven't seen any kind of decent salary increase in at least 5 years.
We weren't even given STEP raises on the salary scale during that time
period. Finally, this December, the union was able to get the board to
agree to increase everyone by ONE step. Big whoop! That means that
folks will be advanced only ONE year on the pay scale, when they should
really be advanced an additional 4 years! Yes, Hillsborough county,
which is right 'next door' to my county, has the Bill and Melinda Gates
Grant money, but eventually, that $$ will be gone. Right now, that
money has given teachers in Hillsborough good salaries and a bit more
job security, while other counties have had to cut jobs in the past
year and freeze or reduce salaries. Keep in mind, especially since
you're young and have years of work ahead of you, that the Gates $$
does NOT extend into perpetuity.

As others here have also stated, the MERIT pay, which the governor and
legislature enacted last year, sounds great, BUT it is UNFUNDED (2
fiscal years in a row) AND it's tied to the student score side of a
teacher's evaluation. IF you have just a minor amount of kids who
don't cut it, not only do you NOT get the merit pay, BUT you're also
deemed "ineffective," which is comparable to having leprosy. If you
have somewhere between 3-5 years of being "ineffective," your teaching
certification will be yanked by the state, and you're working at
McDonald's. I jest, but I can see this happening to folks.
All I can say is, "good luck" with your job search and best wishes.
Praise God I can retire in 2 years.