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In Pensacola, DeSantis Announces Veterans To Teachers Pathway
August 18, 2022
Speaking in Pensacola Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis highlighted proposals for the 2023 Legislative Session that he said will help support and grow Florida’s teaching workforce and leverage the talents of Florida’s retired veterans and first responders.
The governor announced that the Florida Department of Education will adopt military-friendly policies that will increase educational and employment opportunities for veterans and active service members. The action provides a pathway for them to obtain a temporary teaching certificate before receiving their bachelor’s degree and assist veterans in gaining college credit for military experience and coursework.
“In Florida, we are leading by example with innovative teacher recruitment initiatives and in our support of military and veteran families,” DeSantis said. “These proposals and actions will create new avenues for veterans, first responders and aspiring teachers to excel and continue to serve their communities while building meaningful careers. We are able to make these important actions because we understand that having great teachers in our classrooms will help us develop great students.”
“Today’s changes reaffirm Governor DeSantis’ commitment to supporting Florida’s military heroes,” said Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz, Jr. “We are proud to have qualified and knowledgeable veterans in the classroom, which will increase the value of a student’s education.”
Military Veterans Certification Pathway
- Minimum of 48 months of military service with an honorable/medical discharge;
- Minimum of 60 college credits;
- Passing score on a Florida subject area examination;
- Employment in a Florida school district, including charter schools; and
- Cleared background screening.
Veterans who successfully obtain their 5-year temporary teaching certificate will be assigned a classroom mentor for a minimum of two years. They must also earn their bachelor’s degree during the 5-year period and may not teach subject areas that require master’s degree. The temporary certificate cannot be renewed once it expires, nor does it apply to military spouses or families.
Articulation Between and Among Universities, Florida Colleges and School Districts
DOE also amended a rule to expand opportunities for veterans and military servicemembers to be awarded postsecondary credit for equivalent training and education acquired in the military. The board implemented a specific list of college credits and clock hours that will now be guaranteed to former and current military members beginning in the 2022-23 academic year at any Florida state college, university or district technical center.
Pictured: Governor Ron DeSantis at Cordova Park Elementary School in Pensacola on Wednesday.
Comments
24 Responses to “In Pensacola, DeSantis Announces Veterans To Teachers Pathway”
@T – I think the big issue is why we are in this predicament. Why the exodus from teaching? Our governor has divided us even over this problem, one largely of his own doing. Besides reasons others have given in opposition to his “solution,” why do we expect that vets will put up with the current system? Florida is near the bottom of the barrel in regards to teacher pay so, sure, expect a vet to do it. In no time they will be disparaged just as our teachers have been.
You ppl are crazy. Wake up. Who teachers the teachers? I went to school here. Plenty of your well educated teachers are trash. Just as plenty of vets will make great teachers.
Another DeSantis problem creation and attempt to solve the problem he created in order to look like he’s doing something good.
How long before people catch on?
Just pay the teachers and stop the bleeding!
@FormerNavyInstructor – Please give real instances where sex-related instruction has been taught in Florida elementary schools and what parts of our textbooks equate to any “woke” nonsense. Putting anyone without at least some experience into a new job and expecting them to not only learn the ropes AND finish college to work in a dead end profession is a pipe dream. And those “mentor” teachers already have full plates. The exodus from teaching is the result of moves such as those of our governor. We’d be better off recruiting from the many aides and other support staff already in our system.
@Former Navy Instructor
Yes, I did read the reduced qualification path DeSantis is proposing. We should accept lesser candidates as teachers because they will “teach what Ron thinks is okay” doesn’t cut it for me.
Your worries of “woke” political posturing and support of Florida republicans banning books identifies you as not serious about educating Florida students and sets them up for failure in a global environment.
@Gimme a break
Are you one of those who didn’t read the article? Obviously so. Yeah the vets might not be qualified now but look at what they have to do and the education they have to attain in the 5 yr pathway. Teachers were leaving in droves before he came into office and those that have left since because of his policies on K-3 sex education and the books that didn’t meet standards well maybe we didn’t need them anyways teaching our youth. Happy my 4 kids are all grown adults but worried about all this “woke” stuff for my grandkids.
DeSatan threw Florida Teachers under the bus with his constant attacks and wants to replace them with 4 year Vets. As an Army Vet, I can state, he is a Traitor to Florida.
It’s a shame that our governor has chosen to make up problems instead of working on real ones. What schools are teaching anything about sex to K-3 students, or to any elementary students? I haven’t heard of any. And do we have law school grads teaching in our schools because that’s the only place they would learn anything about CRT. And since it isn’t included in our state approved curriculum, I’d like to know where in our state it’s being taught. And maybe more concern should be given to what’s being shared among students on their phones at school instead of what’s in the books being banned. Voters deserve more than vague anecdotes. I want real instances. The waste of time and money on this nonsense should enrage all taxpayers.
INSANITY!! Our kids deserve the best of teachers-not just anyone that is a vet=a cop-he has tied the hands of the teachers-removed books done ZERO to protect and teach kids! HE WANTS THEM STUPID SO THEY WILL GROW UP with the hate and ignorance of these people and then vote for them !!! VOTE HIM OUT!!!
I’m so tired of this governor playing politics with the education system. Want more teachers to stay in the profession, find out why they are quitting in the first place. Most likely it is not just low pay…could be the lack of support by their community and families, demeaning comments by “leaders,” constant changes in curriculum with little training, loss of professional autonomy, etc.
@Former Navy Instructor
They are currently unqualified, “but we’ll change the rules so they are/can be” is political chicanery.
The truth remains DeSantis was the proximate cause of thousands of qualified teachers leaving the State of Florida education system due to his self-aggrandizing attacks.
He bears the blame for the problem.
@oversight
If he had not run all of those teachers off, there wouldn’t be a gap to fill.
DeSantis doesn’t get credit for a proposed bad solution to a problem he created by being an arrogant tyrant.
The lack of reading comprehension amongst many of you commenters is amazing. Many of you commenting that the veterans aren’t qualified obviously didn’t read the article! Look at the pathway over 5 yrs. And to the one vet that said there are good and bad vets, that is true in all avenues of society. Most vetes are better disciplined however. I’m all for the vet being given a chance to teach if they desire, just make sure they follow the pathway to certification.
A bunch of nay sayers here. Heck, they have to pass the state’s subject exam, doesn’t hat mean something? LOL! At least the gov. is attempting to fill the gap, but it appears most posting here would have the positions go unfilled.
@ tg. You are right. Thank parents who teach their children that “free speech” means they can say whatever they please, to whomever they please, without any consequence. I know people who became teachers after retiring from the military. Were they any more respected? NO. In fact, often parents chalked up their child’s misbehavior to having a “hard nosed” vet for a teacher.
So the Governor runs thousands of teachers off because of his cynical , invented “culture war” rhetoric/actions and wants to replace them with unqualified candidates, most of whom will be unsuited to the demands of the classroom.
Where is the Governor? He’s off on a cross-country fund-raising junket and trying to raise his profile for a run for President. He views Floridians as his stepping stone to fuel his naked ambition and grievance politics.
Now he intends to use the state pension fund as a means to try to bully Wall Street, further endangering the stability of that fund. His mismanagement has increased the unfunded debt of the FRS by $6 BILLION since 2018. The fund only has 85% of the money needed to fund current obligations and DeSantis is going to make it worse.
Not to mention his completely unnecessary personal election force and the ridiculous waste of the ‘Florida Guard’ or whatever he is calling it.
Signed,
A 7th generation Floridian who remembers when Florida was fun & free. You know, before Republicans ruined the state.
Veterans would realize quickly how bad the diciplin problem is.
Cool. Hire unqualified people to act as teachers in our already lousy public education system when all you really have to do is increase teacher pay and stop introducing ridiculous political agendas (Don’t Say Gay) to attract and retain teaching talent.
More pandering to his base rather than working on real solutions. Not surprising from the guy that confuses reality with being “woke.”
Because anyone can be a teacher??? That’s one of the reasons we have a shortage to begin with. They were expected to put themselves and their own families at risk when schools here made masks for kids optional. Then there was a push to arm teachers because someone’s right to gun ownership evidently is more important than anything else. Then there’ are issues (like CRT, sex education, bannig books) that have been invented by this governor, resulting in unnecessary spending when our school budgets are already stretched and schools have REAL concerns. And who cares if Florida teacher pay is far behind most of the country. So, sure, hire vets, and relegate them to teacher “status.” I wonder if our governor will disparage the online schools from which many of our vets earned credit as he did teachers who earned degrees from other-than-ivy-league schools. We are witnessing a push to bash public schools and teachers to create an opportunity to add more charter schools. That was why Devos (who never attended public school, had never been a teacher, or any education-related college courses, was put in charge of FDOE by the past admin. Sadly, many people didn’t know her past regarding charter schools was a disaster before she even got to Florida.
Terrible idea. Just pay the teachers more and they will come back. They deserve more pay.
If you let a service member take the short route to teaching you should let others take it as well.
Also having a service member in the classroom will not necessarily make it safer. Just because you served in the military doesn’t mean that you did well on the range or love to keep people safe. There are a lot of bad people in the military just like in the civilian world.
Yes I am a veteran.
No sure I am onboard with his.
My daughter spent a lot of $$$$ getting recertified after leaving a teaching job here in Florida for another State several years back.
The hardest part is retaking college algebra, after taking it the last time 30 years ago.
She’s an Elementary ESE (special ed) teacher and would never teach math at that level, ever.
The education of our children should be paramount. But our children’s education has been dumbed down for decades. Is this the beginning of the dumbing down of our teachers?
By placing former service men and women, and retired first responders in the classrooms, our classrooms will be safer. Thanks, Ron Desantis, for thinking of the children, yet again.
Thank You Mr. Next POTUS!