Florida Teacher Pay Ranks Last in the Country

Ryan, Dana, and Nathalie Rodriguez discuss Florida teacher salaries remaining at the bottom of national rankings compared to other states.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Ryan Gordman Show podcast presented by Verah and Farah
accident attorneys from Tampa.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
What else do we have gone on this morning?

Speaker 3 (00:08):
Natalie, Florida teachers still sitting at the bottom of the
class when it comes to pay. The National Education Association's
latest numbers show that the Sunshine State we rank fiftieth
in the nation for average teacher pay at just over
fifty six thousand dollars. That's not even a living wage.
Fifty six thousand Florida teachers make eighteen grand less than

(00:31):
the national average. Unions are saying that real wages have
dropped twelve percent over the last decade instead of going up,
leaving Florida stuck in last place for the thirty year
in a row. Now, state leaders they continue promising more
funding in the next budget, but the teachers are saying
that it's still not enough to catch up.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
You know, when you looked at the rankings over the
past couple of years, we ranked sixteenth for average starting
salary in twenty twenty three, sixteenth and twenty twenty fourth,
seventeenth and twenty twenty five, and now nineteenth. And we've
actually put some money towards starting teacher salaries.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
Yeah, definitely, But I think then what happened was they
raised it, but then the teachers who have been there
for a while are like, well, what about us, We
should get a bump too.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
And then when you look at an average salary, we
were forty eighth in twenty twenty three, fiftieth in twenty
twenty fourth, twenty twenty five, and now in this latest ranking,
that's awful. I mean, we have got to fix that.
In this state. We're right there with Mississippi.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
Yeah, that's not good at all. And we wonder why
the schools are such a mess. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
You don't want to be on any list where you're
right in the mix with Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, West Virginia. Yeah,
those states. That's never they're always at the bottom of
every list, And here we are, and why they're teacher
shortages and why there's so much turnover.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
And why snap recipients are the numbers continue rising. People
are having to depend on government assistance just to make
ends meet.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, yeah, that is an alarming study. We've done some
work on this. I mean I've been following the legislature
for years and Governor de Santas and there have been
efforts and money allocated, but obviously not nearly enough.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
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Speaker 3 (02:30):
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