Florida now allows vets and their spouses to teach without degrees

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

These are not normal times, OP.

Florida is doing the best it can, as is every other state. Here in Florida we’ve had an enormous influx of people over the past couple of years, especially families, so we had to do something. It’s better than closing down the schools or having students not supervised properly.

OP here. I respectfully disagree, it's not better than 'having students not supervised properly.' What about their actual EDUCATION? Kids only have a limited time to become learners, thinkers, capable citizens who will hold down jobs and raise their families well. I don't think any child should be sent to school just to be supervised. It's a matter of budget priorities and the education of children in public schools is obviously not a priority. No schools should be shut down if enough resources were allocated to them. Florida is demonstrating a disregard for the lifelong success of the children in their public schools.

PP here. Of course everyone agrees that having actual teachers is the best solution. Unfortunately that isn’t possible at the moment. By the lack of supervision I was referring to some other states who are combining classes so yes there’s a teacher but they’re handling way too many students. Given that most schools in Florida have been open throughout the pandemic, I’d say the best thing right now is to have enough screened adults in the schools rather than not having them in the schools because they don’t have a teaching degree.

And frankly, the way a lot of schools are these days, I think vets might be in a better position than most to handle the demands of the job. It’s not challenging teaching requirements causing most teachers to quit at the moment, it’s stress.

Plus I like the idea of supporting our service men and women. I think they should be given a chance to prove themselves if this is something they think they can do well at. (If they can’t perform then they shouldn’t be allowed to do the job, but this should apply to everyone, even if they have a teaching degree.)

Of course, it is possible to get more teachers. Raise their salaries. Aren’t we in a capitalistic society.
Shows how much the US values education.

And what’s up with the - let’s give vets a chance. Kids are not Guinea pigs.

We already pay more per student for education than any other country. If we increase pay for teachers, we would need to reduce pay for bureaucrats at the same time to make up for it.

I think getting disruptive students out of the mainstream classes and allowing tracking based on student abilities would do way more to help retain and attract good teachers though.

We pay so much because other countries track their kids much earlier into college and vocational tracks by middle school.

That is much more efficient, though obviously has equity issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2022/07/21/florida-education-program-military-veterans-teach/10117107002/

What a horrible disservice this is to children! Being in the military or simply being married to someone who was in the military does not qualify anyone to educate young people. They only need half of a degree, a low gpa, and a passing test score - Florida's children are doomed. This is the state's cheapest possible option to get warm bodies into classrooms - not educators. This is how little they care for the future.

Try reading the article. They aren't just putting veterans or their spouses in the classroom. The only opposition to this is of course coming from the teachers unions.

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, including charter schools

https://www.fldoe.org/teaching/certification/military/

Yeah, NONE of this is qualifies someone to teach. But, I cannot wait. Most of these military types will LOSE THEIR MINDS in the first week. The first week! They have no idea what a classroom environment is like and they will likely think being in boot camp was easier.

Cannot wait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah it is incredible the DCUM crowd constantly thinks of Florida as some backwater when its public schools repeatedly and on different assessments beat Maryland public schools (I don’t track VA very much) and spends CONSIDERABLY less on its public schools. Then they say ‘well MCPS is different - yet MCPS ranks 5th in the state and is the largest’. I don’t get it. Also Florida handles equally diverse poor whites, AAs and immigrants.

Nope. Literally none of that is true. None.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By the way Florida is offering vets this opportunity is brilliant from a fiscal perspective - they don’t need to pay as much to many of these fine folks most who probably already served 20 years and are on a military pension. These fine folks will be happy with getting paid less in other words.

How much do you think a military pension is?

DP
After 20 years of service my guess is the retirement pension is 50% of the highest 36-month pay average. Does that seem about right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah it is incredible the DCUM crowd constantly thinks of Florida as some backwater when its public schools repeatedly and on different assessments beat Maryland public schools (I don’t track VA very much) and spends CONSIDERABLY less on its public schools. Then they say ‘well MCPS is different - yet MCPS ranks 5th in the state and is the largest’. I don’t get it. Also Florida handles equally diverse poor whites, AAs and immigrants.

Yep. MUCH of this is true. A lot.

There, I fixed it for you.

Citation: Kirwan Commission Report, 2020

https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/26excom/defunct/html/13edinnov.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By the way Florida is offering vets this opportunity is brilliant from a fiscal perspective - they don’t need to pay as much to many of these fine folks most who probably already served 20 years and are on a military pension. These fine folks will be happy with getting paid less in other words.

How much do you think a military pension is?

DP
After 20 years of service my guess is the retirement pension is 50% of the highest 36-month pay average. Does that seem about right?

And that sounds like enough money to accept a "less than you're worth" salary for teaching?

[Anonymous]

Gosh I don’t know. Many years ago I worked for a news org and we hired former military as techs - they were making probably 40,000 in pensions a year as former NCOs. So they felt fine taking base salaries in the 80s - when most wanted base near 100,000. I would think this would work out similarly. Not saving a ton for Florida - but something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gosh I don’t know. Many years ago I worked for a news org and we hired former military as techs - they were making probably 40,000 in pensions a year as former NCOs. So they felt fine taking base salaries in the 80s - when most wanted base near 100,000. I would think this would work out similarly. Not saving a ton for Florida - but something.

Most military retirees would see their "second career" as a way to get ahead/make more money to make up for the sacrifices they made during the 20+ years of service. Not a way to "break even" with all the people just starting out and a couple decades younger than them. If your news org found a way to save money by taking advantage of former military, well....I guess that says terrible things about you/your "org."

[Anonymous]

Florida salaries are notoriously low. Step 20 in Hillsborough County (Tampa) pays 55k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By the way Florida is offering vets this opportunity is brilliant from a fiscal perspective - they don’t need to pay as much to many of these fine folks most who probably already served 20 years and are on a military pension. These fine folks will be happy with getting paid less in other words.

How much do you think a military pension is?

DP
After 20 years of service my guess is the retirement pension is 50% of the highest 36-month pay average. Does that seem about right?

And that sounds like enough money to accept a "less than you're worth" salary for teaching?

PP here. I didn’t say it is. I didn’t say it isn’t. I was making a guess as an answer to the PP’s question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By the way Florida is offering vets this opportunity is brilliant from a fiscal perspective - they don’t need to pay as much to many of these fine folks most who probably already served 20 years and are on a military pension. These fine folks will be happy with getting paid less in other words.

How much do you think a military pension is?

DP
After 20 years of service my guess is the retirement pension is 50% of the highest 36-month pay average. Does that seem about right?

This is what a Virginia teacher gets from VRS once their age and years of service equals 80 or 90 (depending on when they were hired).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gosh I don’t know. Many years ago I worked for a news org and we hired former military as techs - they were making probably 40,000 in pensions a year as former NCOs. So they felt fine taking base salaries in the 80s - when most wanted base near 100,000. I would think this would work out similarly. Not saving a ton for Florida - but something.

Most military retirees would see their "second career" as a way to get ahead/make more money to make up for the sacrifices they made during the 20+ years of service. Not a way to "break even" with all the people just starting out and a couple decades younger than them. If your news org found a way to save money by taking advantage of former military, well....I guess that says terrible things about you/your "org."

Why? They agreed to the salary they were offered. That’s classic DC liberal speak: taking advantage of former military. These dudes were making tons of cash in overtime which likely factored into their decision and we’re incredibly competitive. Sorry to tell you there are no victims here. Also these were not folks starting out. They were taking gigs that were mid career at the time at those salaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve had the fortunate or unfortunate experience of working in an elementary classroom at one of the top 5 public school districts in the country. Very highly unimpressed with the teachers and have since lost respect for teachers at the elementary level.
A trained monkey could have taught better than what I saw.

Well, better start training those monkeys right now.

You’re so dumb, you must be one of those monkeys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gosh I don’t know. Many years ago I worked for a news org and we hired former military as techs - they were making probably 40,000 in pensions a year as former NCOs. So they felt fine taking base salaries in the 80s - when most wanted base near 100,000. I would think this would work out similarly. Not saving a ton for Florida - but something.

Most military retirees would see their "second career" as a way to get ahead/make more money to make up for the sacrifices they made during the 20+ years of service. Not a way to "break even" with all the people just starting out and a couple decades younger than them. If your news org found a way to save money by taking advantage of former military, well....I guess that says terrible things about you/your "org."

Why? They agreed to the salary they were offered. That’s classic DC liberal speak: taking advantage of former military. These dudes were making tons of cash in overtime which likely factored into their decision and we’re incredibly competitive. Sorry to tell you there are no victims here. Also these were not folks starting out. They were taking gigs that were mid career at the time at those salaries.

You said they were salaried. Which is it?