TAMPA, Fla. — Florida's public schools are struggling to fill thousands of vacancies ahead of the fall semester.
In the Tampa Bay area, there are hundreds of open positions from teachers to bus drivers at public schools.
Manatee County
As of July 11, 2022, there are 74 teacher vacancies.
Polk County
Approximately 220 teacher vacancies.
Hillsborough County
700 instructional vacancies and 180 bus driver vacancies.
Pasco County
As of July 11, 2022, there were 364 vacancies.
Sarasota County
Approximately 149 teacher vacancies.
Pinellas County
As of July 11, 2022, there were 174 teacher vacancies and 50 bus driver vacancies.
For some context, 10 Tampa Bay did a story earlier this year in February, reporting there were 4,200 teacher vacancies statewide. At the time, the state education association (FEA), the union that represents Florida teachers, said that was the worst the state has ever seen. The number is growing.
Now FEA says there are 9,500 openings. That includes 4,359 advertised teaching jobs and 5,222 open non-instructional positions.
Barber has taught for 48 years and said lately these openings don't surprise her.
"A day doesn’t go by in my office where somebody doesn’t call me to say, I can’t do this anymore, how do I take a leave of absence, how do I resign?" she explained.
Barber said it isn't one thing deterring people from teaching, it's a combination. She believes from teacher salaries, to policy changes and COVID, there's too much strain put on teachers.
At the end of the day, she believes it all boils down to money.
"People are leaving our district because they can’t even find a place that they can afford to rent. That’s all over Florida," Barber said.
Her solution is to have people vote to pass local county referendums that will support teacher salaries.
If you would like to apply to any openings, click below:
Pasco County openings.
Hillsborough County openings.
Pinellas County openings.
Sarasota County openings.
Manatee County openings.
Polk County openings.