“I want to teach, but I just do not know how I will make it work financially.”
This is a phrase I have heard repeatedly from teachers in my role as executive director of Teach for America Jacksonville , a nonprofit that recruits, trains and develops teachers and education leaders. Teacher Appreciation Week was this week and per usual, social media was teeming with praise, boxes of donuts were delivered to break rooms, even the occasional discount given from local businesses .
Teachers deserve every moment of celebration they received this week and more. However, if we truly appreciate and value the incredibly important work that our educators do, we must address the teacher pay problem .
With 66 of 67 Florida counties starting the most recent school year with at least one teacher vacancy , we know we are struggling to keep our best teachers in the classroom. As we try to solve this critical issue, one thing is crystal clear — making more progress on teacher pay is essential.
There is a significant gap between traditional teacher pay and the real-life challenges of rising living costs, such as rent, mortgages, utilities, groceries and more. A recent study by the finance site GoBanking found that a single person in Florida must make at least $57,064 to cover all expenses . This is well above the average teacher starting salary in Florida of $47,178.
Some progress has been made with the governor’s Focus on Florida’s Future, legislation that earmarked an additional $200 million on top of the current funding to let school districts increase salaries. However, we know that more still needs to be done.
In a survey of more than 1,000 teachers conducted by the Teacher Salary Project , only one in five reported that their pay was sufficient to retain them in their role. The study also found that four out of every five teachers have worked or currently hold additional jobs to make ends meet.
It is critical not to create the perfect solution but rather to give our current and future educators tangible reasons to enter and remain in the classroom. After all, organizations around the state, including Teach For America, have taken the initiative to provide relief for teachers and have seen success.
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We have worked to lower financial barriers for new teachers by providing stipends, giving additional funds to those who come from low-income communities. We also leverage our longstanding partnership with AmeriCorps, a national service program, to help teachers receive funds for their service to pay down student loan debt or for future tuition.
Even though we and other organizations have seen our efforts pay off, a comprehensive teacher pay solution is still needed.
We all appreciate teachers, but we need to turn our appreciation into action to ensure that teaching is a valued, sustainable and truly appreciated profession. Increasing teacher pay is not just the right thing to do — it is an investment in our collective future. When we support increased teacher pay, we support the caretakers of our state’s most precious resource, our children.
Let’s continue to show teachers appreciation by putting a higher value on their work.
LaKeisha Wells-Palmer, executive director, Teach For America Jacksonville
This guest column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Times-Union. We welcome a diversity of opinions .
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Teach for America Jacksonville: Appreciation for teachers means increasing their pay
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