The Truth About Florida Teaching

This will be the same situation all over the country:

I hope you guys are even able to find jobs! My area is talking
about a huge budget deficit (Lake) and Seminole is talking about
$20+M deficit (again). Closing elem. schools has been tabled for
THIS year, but it will rear its ugly head again next year over in
Seminole. They are talking teacher layoffs for this year. I
talked to a teacher in Seminole over the weekend, and she said
older teachers are being "forced out" of her high school because
they cost too much. How do they force you out? Well, give you 6
different preps to teach, and so on. I've seen teachers run out
of the elementary where I used to teach. There are many ways for
an admin to do this.

Ok, so is it really that bad here? Well, IF you find jobs, plan
on teaching at the "worst" Title I schools (teachers are fleeing
those like a sinking ship due to the new evaluation system) The
economy is very bad here. At my local high school, we had 45 new
students enroll in January. HALF of them are "homeless". WOW...
(I"m in Lake, just west of Orlando) As others said, if you teach
a non-FCAT subject, you will be evaluated on the FCAT scores of
grades 4 and 5 at your school. If your school struggles, you will
get low marks which will lead to license revocation.

A new teacher here makes $35,000. A 11 year teacher only makes
$3,000 more! We pay the lowest of all Central FL counties (even
lower than Polk) but there usually are jobs here due to the
extreme teacher turnover. Like I said, the jobs are in rough
schools. How are the kids in your state? Here, the kids tell the
teacher to "shut up fat b****" (5th grade) and kids tell other
kids to perform obscene acts on them. That happened in my
husband's class last year. My teacher friend had a parent come to
her house and ram her car with his truck. Parents come to school
and punch other parents. One middle schooler sprayed lighter
fluid on his girfriend and set her on fire. 300lb student body
slammed a teacher into a desk (twice) and nothing was done to
him. Then he raped a girl on the bus. He is free today... (no
jail time)

The environment here is a pressure cooker. The state curriculum
is so advanced (and there is so much to cover) that you will rush
to even get through everything by the April FCAT.

Sure, we have to pay into the pension now, but they also took
away the cost of living increase. So you will be lucky to make
$20k pension, and 20 years into retirement you would still get
the same $20k a year (purchasing power cut down to dog-food level
by then by inflation!)

The cost of living here is HIGH. We lived in Georgia and here is
what happened when we moved to FL: (1) auto insurance flat
doubled, (2) homeowner's insurance flat doubled, (3) electricity
rate (per kw/h) doubled. Rents here are very expensive because
everyone needs to rent now.

We are renting now (long story) and looking to buy a home. I
could barely find anything to rent for $1,100. Most rents will be
$1,250 to $1,575 for a house in a decent area. It is also
suddenly a seller's market for homes in Orange, Seminole, and
Lake! There is nothing out there. Inventory is very low and
prices are up 10% in my area (South Lake County) from last year.

Plan on $180k to $220k for a home (1970's, unrenovated) in the
good school zones. Sure, you can find homes for $120k, but you
will be in very dicey areas that are declining (seen them myself -
trash in yards, cars on blocks...)

Also, your entire first year is "probation". You can be fired at
any time for no reason. From then on, you are on annual contract.
Basically a temp... teachers are getting fired right and left
here by crazy Principals. Keep your head DOWN and do not make a
fuss. Do whatever it takes to keep PARENTS happpy. Do not speak
out about fraud, waste, etc. or your conract will just not be
renewed. Don't question anything.

Don't get a master's degree here (you will be too expensive) and
don't get Nat'l Board Certified. (not valued unless you want to
move out of state later - that's how my friend was able to leave
FL and get hired in NJ!)

I think you are in for culture shock and cost of living shock for
sure. Also, keep in mind that jobs you see posted in June are
often not real jobs - they are just reposts of all the annual
contract jobs to comply with the law, but Principals already
intend to fill them with either the same person or an intern.