WFLA

Florida teacher vacancies down to 4,442, according to FDOE

Sam Sachs

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida has thousands of teacher and school staff vacancies. It’s not a newly realized problem, but the state’s Department of Education did release new data on exactly how many staff are needed to make every school district whole.

According to FDOE, there were more than 4,000 vacancies for just teachers on the first day of school. FDOE said school districts reported a total of 5,208 vacancies. However, the vacancy numbers reported in September totaled 4,442. State officials said 766 positions had been filled since districts sent in their numbers.

“For context – Florida has roughly 185,000 teachers and the state’s current vacancies represent approximately 2.4% of teaching positions, which is also around 1.2 open positions per school on average,” department officials said. “As always, the Department will continue to work diligently to support Florida’s teaching needs with a focus on proactively working with superintendents on a case-by-case basis.”

Due to the emphasis on teacher recruitment and recruitment for educators among military veterans and law enforcement officers, WFLA.com has asked Dept. of Education officials for the number of vacancies that had been filled thanks to those programs. FDOE said they were working to get information on those recruitment efforts.

The data points on vacancies themselves are recorded for what FDOE calls a Day 1 Vacancy report. Every year, the department asks schools and districts to send them their vacancies by subject, endorsement area, and grade level. Sometimes there are crossovers, where one teacher may teach multiple subjects or grade levels. FDOE said endorsement areas are “additional specialization” for a teacher, but “cannot stand alone on a certificate.”

In some districts, duplicated vacancies have led to larger numbers of open positions, according to state education officials.

In the Tampa Bay area, there are 1,782 vacancies reported in the 10-county area across all grade levels in K-12 public education. The bulk of those openings are in Hillsborough County Public Schools, and mainly the Pre-K to 5th grade classes.

School District Pre-K to 5th: 6th to 8th: 9th to 12th: Total:
Citrus County1292041
Hardee County81211
Hernando County503919108
Highlands County48181682
Hillsborough County372199120691
Manatee County4815972
Pasco County19210269363
Pinellas County613725123
Polk County876951216
Sarasota County27212775
Totals9055103581,782
(Source: Florida Department of Education)

The state’s subject areas all have openings, but according to data from FDOE, the biggest number of vacancies is in 6th Grade Exceptional Student Education, where “children with disabilities who need specially designed instruction and related services” are taught, according to the department. There were currently more than 1,000 positions open for teaching ESE classes, as of Sept. 1.

156 of the openings are in Hillsborough County. Hillsborough County is the seventh largest school district in the United States.

The second largest vacancy level by subject is in 9th grade math, with 450 openings.

Every Florida county’s teacher and staff vacancies are listed below, as of Sept. 1.

CountyPre-K to 5th: 6th to 8th: 9th to 12th: Total:
Alachua County243532
Baker County1321025
Bay County25111147
Bradford County5139
Brevard County1025925156
Broward County393037106
Calhoun County0202
Charlotte County149528
Citrus County1292041
Clay County14241250
Collier County25251161
Columbia County4228
DeSoto County812727
Dixie County53412
Duval County22510082407
Escambia County3725870
Flagler County1581336
Florida A&M University4105
Florida Atlantic University0000
Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind0033
Florida State University0011
Florida Virtual School0099
Franklin County42612
Gadsden County2416444
Gilchrist County4059
Glades County2226
Gulf County2002
Hamilton County3025
Hardee County81211
Hendry County713626
Hernando County503919108
Highlands County48181682
Hillsborough County372199120691
Holmes County211114
Indian River County1071027
Jackson County1124
Jefferson County0000
Lafayette County0000
Lake County4511565
Lee County1135529198
Leon County141318
Levy County1001424
Liberty County0202
Madison County3216
Manatee County4815972
Marion County704936155
Martin County31101960
Miami-Dade County16474106344
Monroe County117624
Nassau County87621
Okaloosa County2311640
Okeechobee County1010424
Orange County513917107
Osceola County984994241
Palm Beach County131113140384
Pasco County19210269363
Pinellas County613725123
Polk County876951216
Putnam County154524
Santa Rosa County42111573
Sarasota County27212775
Seminole County157224
St. Johns County21192363
St. Lucie County22812
Sumter County4149
Suwannee County4138
Taylor County1405
Union County0222
University of Florida0010
Volusia County695445168
Wakulla County125421
Walton County2851447
Washington County44614
Totals2,5221,4281,2725,208
(Source: Florida Department of Education)