Editorial: Inspiring teachers harder to find in Florida schools
Florida needs more teachers like Willie and Estella Pyfrom. Unfortunately, state education policies are making it difficult for public schools in Florida to attract and retain educators of the caliber of the Pyfroms, whose work in Palm Beach County's Glades communities earned them overdue public recognition and enduring adulation.
For almost four decades, the Pyfroms taught music, raised students and mentored a community. Willie Pyfrom became known as "the godfather of band directors" for his many students who would go on to become music teachers and band leaders themselves. Estella, his late wife, was no slouch either. After retiring, she used her life savings to start Estella's Brilliant Bus, a mobile computer lab that brought technology and internet connections to children living in some of the county's poorest areas.
Imagine school districts filled with such dedicated teachers. Fat chance, right?! Today's educational environment is buffeted by strong headwinds working against both dedication and longevity. As Justin Katz, the Palm Beach County teachers' union president put it to Katherine Kokal, the Post's education reporter, at the start of the current school year: "We’re getting burnt at both ends basically. The level of attrition and resignation of career or short-term teachers has grown dramatically, and simultaneously the pool of future educators has shrunk."
As of early January, there were 5,294 instructional vacancies and 4,631 support staff vacancies in the state, according to Florida Education Association data. The Palm Beach County School District is faring better than most. It only had 418 teaching vacancies as of Oct. 1, up 70 from this time in 2021 and from more than 200 before the pandemic.
The good news is that teacher salaries in Florida have been going up. Last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature increased teacher-pay spending by $250 million over the previous year and gave school districts greater flexibility in raising salaries for new and veteran teachers. The raise amounted to a noticeable change from previous Legislatures that restricted salary increases for experienced teachers.
Still, according to the latest National Education Association data on average teacher salaries, Florida moved one position between the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years — from 49th to 48th place in the nation. Hopes of ending the state's high stakes testing have failed to materialize, according to the Florida Education Association, the state's largest association of teachers, educational staff and students training to become future educators.
Ever-changing programs and state standards, worsening student behavior, growing parental indifference and hostilities are taking a toll. The result? Fewer students are studying to become educators and more teachers are retiring early. The recent enrollment figures at Palm Beach State College's education program is another indicator of a troubling trend. Between 2012 and 2021, the number of students earning associate degrees in the program dropped 34 percent, from more than 1,500 students a year to 1,026.
Our state elected officials aren't helping matters, either. Throw in Florida's Parental Rights in Education law, which restricts classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation and The Stop W.O.K.E. Act, which prohibits teaching certain concepts related to race, and now you have an environment where teachers are not only looking over their shoulders but considering heading for the exits.
Granted, the Pyfroms didn't have to worry about an ambitious governor weaponizing classroom instruction to gain votes in a bid for higher office. Their primary concern was simply making sure their students received a decent education under the nation's harsh Jim Crow laws that left Black students in racially segregated in shoddy schools.
Adjusting to the whims of politicians and society are nothing new for teachers. But, in Florida and other parts of the country, it's reaching a breaking point. It's time for elected officials to consider the profession itself and devise laws, rules and standards that will help educators do their jobs and make teaching attractive again.
Willie and Estella Pyfrom taught school for almost 60 years. For their service in the classroom, the music hall of Glades Central High School this month was renamed their honor. It's the type of thanks any teacher in Florida would like to receive after a long and devoted career but most likely won't.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida education policies hurt state's ability to retain teachers
