Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., has pledged $800 million toward raising teachers’ salaries in Florida this year. “We’ve worked really hard, particularly over the past few years, to increase teacher compensation in the state of Florida,” he stated during a “Raising Teacher Pay” press conference on Monday.
Additionally, Gov. DeSantis pointed out his administration’s successes so far in working toward raising teacher pay in the Sunshine State, drawing attention to the $1,000 bonuses given to teachers and principals in 2021.
He also stated that his administration wanted to increase the average minimum salary of teachers across the state. “If you want to recruit more people to come in, they[‘ve] got to be able to afford to be able to be teachers.”
Gov. DeSantis added that his administration has been able to direct around $2 billion toward increased teacher compensation over the last couple of years across various initiatives. “In this year’s budget…we did $800 million for teacher pay initiatives,” he said.
Florida has become a stronghold of conservative values and legislation, particularly under the leadership of DeSantis, who has come out swinging against the radical leftist policies being implemented on the federal level by Joe Biden and his administration.
In addition to Gov. DeSantis’ strong push toward raising teachers’ salaries, he announced in March that Florida will also be eliminating primary statewide standardized testing in public schools at the end of 2022. This was just one decision in a string of measures that Florida has taken to improve the quality of public education.
In his comments on Monday, Gov. DeSantis noted the importance of drawing college students into teaching as a profession. He continued, “People understand you’re not necessarily going to be a billionaire doing this [teaching] but you need to be able to make ends meet.”
Gov. DeSantis’ latest strides toward brushing up the education system in Florida should be applauded, and other states in the U.S. should take note.