Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / No, FEA, Teachers Aren't Leaving Florida Due To Policies

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No, FEA, Teachers Aren't Leaving Florida Due To Policies · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

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  Thirty six minutes after the hour of the Morning show Thursday. Good to have
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  you with us this morning on the program. Grant Allen running the show as
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  always and thrilled that back with us on the program. He is the Commissioner
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  of Education for the Sunshine State Manadas Commissioner. How are you and good morning?
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  How are you doing? Great to be with you. How is it
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  that the FEA is trying to spend the fact that we have massive in migration
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  to Florida, but they're saying we have a teacher shortage because people are leaving
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  the state. Look, let's talk about this. This is again this year.
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  Last year at the same time they tried to do the same thing.
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  We use actual data to blow their narrative out of the water. Again this
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  year they go around using this just looking scouring websites and trying to put this
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  together and come up with the number. Where our numbers come from is directly
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  from the STRIX. Their HR departments are superintendents. What are your actual openings?
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  We're at four thousand, seven hundred and change. That's one point two
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  per school. National average is two plus per school. Two plus openings per
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  school. They're talking about, you know, our policies, Governor de santisis
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  policies causing this. Look at California, they got a massive teacher shortage,
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  and that has nothing to do with any of that. As you know,
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  there's a national employment shortage. But looking at Florida's numbers, because of the
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  leadership of Governor DeSantis and the legislature, all of these investments that have been
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  made three billion dollars over the last four years with Governor Desantists, all the
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  changes in alternative pathways and making it easier for unless bureaucratic for teachers to get
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  into the profession. We are working on it, and look, we're not
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  satisfied until these districts hire everybody. But this is a process and there are
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  nuances. This is a myth and a narrative just designed to attack Governor Desantists.
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  That's all they do. The FAA, unfortunately, is just a political
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  activist group at this point. So the Florida Education Association is trying to spin
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  that the teacher openings, which are an issue in our state like they are
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  elsewhere, but better in our state than the national average. They're actually trying
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  to say that the teacher shortage is due to policies that the legislature and the
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  governors signed into law. That's what they're saying. And look at the funny
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  part about this is if you look at the last session, if you look
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  at a tweet from Speaker Paul Renner, if you look at the last session,
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  what has been done. Governor led on these three billion dollars for teacher
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  salaries that never existed in the state before Governor DeSantis. We streamline certification for
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  alternative pathways, military first responders, people coming from career changers. You can
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  now get a temporary certificate to the last five years for you to go ahead
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  and keep working on your requirements as long as you are producing in the classroom.
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  And we're not lowering the bar because these districts, these principles are not
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  keeping the teacher. It's not producing in the classroom. And so it gives
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  a person that's career changing that maybe has a math background is now teaching maths
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  the ability to pass these exams. We've we've also through these policies made it
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  so that you instead of having the pass to general knowledge an exam, if
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  you are a teacher for three years and you're highly effective, you can forego
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  that because what we've had press then in parts of the state is we have
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  individuals who are fantastic in math or in science, they had they have a
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  language barrier because they came from somewhere else, right, and so they have
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  problems passing the English part of the exam because of the grammar or the writing.
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  And so instead of removing them from the classroom, whether they're a fantastic
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  math teacher, we figure out another way for them to be able to reach
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  that and and acquire that credit and stay in the classroom teaching math. Which
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  is only common sense, But you would think that an organization that is in
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  charge of representing teachers would be more cooperative in trying to attract teachers instead of
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  just criticizing in the face of the numbers interaccurate. You know, when they
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  question the numbers, I can tell you the numbers at the Department of Education
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  come directly from the districts, directly from the HR department. We don't make
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  them up. We don't scour websites or indeed or anything like that. Like
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  the apparently joining us is the Commission of Education for Florida. Many Diaz More
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  to come on the Morning Show with Preston Scott think of it like a fine
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  wine. Ah, excuse me, man, please have some more water the
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  pellagreno, Yes, sparkling, this breeze very nice. Good morning and welcome
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  to the Morning Show with Preston Scott. A few minutes left with Florida's Commissioner
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  of Education, Manidas Commissioner, correct me if I'm wrong, But haven't the
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  union's been the ones or hasn't it been in the way of many teachers receiving
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  the higher pay that the legislature made available and the governor signed into law that
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  through their collective bargaining nonsense, they've actually kept some teachers pay suppressed. That's
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  correct, and so that the audience can understand the governor's leadership in creating this
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  new categorical three billion dollars over the last four years directly has to be used
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  for teacher salaries. Unfortunately, the constitution has collective bargaining in it, so
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  this money goes down to districts where the governor has pushed for the minimum of
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  forty seven five that's starting pay across the state. And then the unions are
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  actually getting into these tussles and dragging in other issues and have delayed in several
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  districts, the money getting into action into teachers pockets, which is inexcusable.
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  We have called these districts before the state Board to answer, but at the
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  end of the day, the answer is always the same. The union has
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  brought in other issues. Why wouldn't you get through that negotiation get the money
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  and teachers, especially with the inflation that we're under this Biden administration that's really
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  killing folks in their pocketbook. Why I wouldn't get the money in their pockets
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  us. It's ridiculous and inexcusable. They need to be more about representing their
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  actual members than than than political activists. But at this point, I think
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  that ship has failed. Let me ask you this in closing, I want
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  to bring up the fight with the college Board and the ap site courses.
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  It's a popular course for a lot of seniors in high school. I'm curious,
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  what are you going to do with districts that are saying, yeah,
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  we're going to teach it as is the way it is, even though there's
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  material in it that runs a foul of state law. The funny part present
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  is we we we didn't start this. It was the college board, right
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  the course was never pulled from our course directory. We told districts to offer
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  it. We gave verbal guidance, just tell them to follow the law.
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  We have several superintendents who have found a way to teach it, like like
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  my memo to two letters that I wrote, very clear, you can teach
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  it within the law, age appropriate without a problem based on their learning outcomes.
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  I think this whole even though the College Board caused it on themselves,
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  caused the confusion for students themselves without anything from us. I think that's been
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  solved. I think it's clear districts understand and they're they're they're able to teach
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  it within the law and within the coursework without violating state board rule or law.
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  So the material that some have found might run a foul from the law,
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  the College Board will still consider it and qualify it as an AP course,
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  even if that material is not directly taught in the classroom. They have
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  directly communicated with districts that they are the courses. Absolutely, they agree the
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  course can be taught in its entirety, but stay still age appropriate. You're
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  talking about this is a discussion about a miniscule part of the course. Sure,
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  and and to talk about the learning outcomes versus what some people were considering
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  part of the course. And so I think what's what's happened is we've had
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  several districts that figured out very quickly that you could teach that six point seventh
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  section of the course without running a file, state law or state board rule.
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  And that's the way it should have been from the beginning. That's the
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  way we interpreted. They created this mess and caused all this confusion. Hopefully
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  they're learned or lessons, and you know, in Florida, what we will
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  do is no matter what they do, we will assure that our students have
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  the opportunity to get those advanced credits, whether it be IB or Cambridge or
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  DO enrollment program or our own advanced tests that we are now creating. Since
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  the last legislative session, we have assured parents that at the end of this
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  year, even if AP does something to try to hurt those students, we
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  will make sure that we're there to backstop that and they will receive their credit,
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  they'll get their extra points, and they'll get their college credit. That's
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  why I use the Commission of Education one step ahead. Manny, Thanks for
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  the time this Morning Present. Really appreciate it, all, right, sir
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  Manny Diaz Commissioner. I have said from the beginning, this is probably the
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  best most qualified person in that chair since I moved to the state in nineteen
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  eighty seven. And you are benefiting from it, my friends, if you've
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  got kids in public schools now, we've still got a lot of work to
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  do, but it's trending the right way at least. Here forty six minutes
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  after the hour, it's The Morning Show with Preston Scott