'This is a sad career to be in': Florida teachers reveal why they leave

Over the past few years, teachers opting out of Florida classrooms have been chalked up to pay, politics, and an overall lack of support.

But new exit interviews from over the summer across more than a half dozen Florida school districts suggest there may be a shift in what’s now driving teachers away.

• “I feel value as a person, but not as an educator,” stated a former teacher in Hillsborough County,
• “I can't teach to the test anymore,” an ex-teacher in Palm Beach County documented.
• “Parents delegate everything,” wrote a Pasco County teacher.

These firsthand sentiments, which we obtained through a public record request months after we started sharing teacher exit interviews, provide the most detailed understanding of why some teachers choose to leave.
During the 2022/23 school year, we found more than 18,000 Florida teachers left their districts . Those exits represented nearly 10% of the state’s publicly employed teachers at the time. More recent data has yet to be released.

What’s driving teachers away?

According to these most recent exit interviews from school districts across Tampa Bay, Collier County, and Palm Beach County, the top reasons for leaving included:

• Moving or relocating
• Money
• Retirement

According to hundreds of exit surveys we reviewed, money was a distant second or even third behind retirement.
According to an August press release from the Florida Department of Education , Florida has invested more than $4.6 billion in teacher pay since 2019.

But while starting teacher salaries in Florida now rank 16th in the nation, the average teacher salary in the sunshine state ranks a gloomy 50th according to the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teacher’s union .

The national ranking had some departing teachers venting about it on their way out.

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• “Florida ranks 50th in the nation in teacher pay... need I say more?” A former high school teacher in Palm Beach County stated in the comments section of their exit survey.
• “Shameful,” described a Hillsborough County educator who also resigned over this summer.
• ”How can you ask people to work so hard and pay them so little?” the teacher stated.

However, these exit interviews also reveal other reasons for teachers' departure, including student testing and “extreme student behaviors.”
One teacher in Palm Beach County responded with the following after an altercation with five high school boys.

• “After 25 years in education, I can say that I have never encountered such verbal aggression from a group, and I am not willing to be subject to abusive behavior.”

The teacher ultimately resigned.

• “This is a sad career to be in,” said another teacher also in Palm Beach County.

USF education students respond to departing teacher sentiments

University of South Florida students Courtney Bennett and Luke Vischio-Duffy are education majors with their sights set on teaching.

We shared with them some of the comments teachers who were exiting the field left behind.

“It scares me, but it doesn't scare me away,” said Bennett, who wants to be a middle school math teacher.

A USF Education major talks of the worries she faces for the profession

“It gives me pause,” said Vischio-Duffy, a second-year education major. “It takes me a second to reflect on and ask is this the right decision for me? But when I look deep down it does not matter. This is what I want to do,” he said.

RELATED STORY | Florida woman starts company to help teachers switch careers

Bennet and Vischio-Duffy know they're entering a challenging field at one of the most challenging times.

“One of our textbooks is called being an effective teacher in challenging times. Everybody understands that this is a very hard time to be an educator,” said Vischio-Duffy.

USF education major Luke Vischio-Duffy talks the state of education

While the words of teachers who left may be tough for them to hear, they are among the up-and-comers hoping to help the profession turn the page.

“I want to say to the teachers that are leaving for various reasons, the future of education is in good hands, it really is,” Bennett said.

This story was originally published by Katie LaGrone at Scripps News Tampa .

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