Florida Education Association

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Monday his commitment to raise state funds for teacher salaries to $1.25 billion, an increase of almost a quarter-billion dollars. Public education advocates said that won't alleviate the teacher shortage.

Ever since the passage of a union law in 2023, tens of thousands of public employees have lost their bargaining rights.

More than 4,000 teaching positions need to be filled across Florida. In the greater Tampa Bay region, there's about 880 vacancies.

The state also needs almost 3,500 support staff members.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his budget on Tuesday, December 5 for the new fiscal year, with $15.1 billion dollars going to the state’s public schools.

Florida teachers are leaving the state and their profession. They blame unrealistic workloads, restrictive laws and stagnant pay.

A Florida-based U.S. District judge has refused to put on hold a new law that removes the ability of some union members to automatically deduct their dues from their government paychecks. The case itself continues in the courts.

The Florida Education Association's lawsuit says the Florida Department of Education went beyond the scope of HB 1467 in its training, which led some districts to cover shelves.

Republicans had tried for years to pass what critics call a union-busting bill. The proposal builds on past efforts aimed at curbing public employee unions.

It is also also is designed to allow home-schooled students to create “education savings accounts” that can be used for purchases beyond private-school tuition.

Democrats, teachers unions and public school districts say it will drain funding away from private and charter schools as students leave those schools.

A proposal to raise the membership threshold to 60% and prevent automatic withdrawals for union dues is moving in the legislature over accusations that it targets some of Republicans’ most vocal critics.