[iluvflorida]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and i wanted to hear everyone's input on teaching in Florida. I lived in Florida for 3 years...first Tallahassee and then Hollywood. I am back in Michigan after a divorce and am getting my teaching certification here. I do miss Florida though and hope to move back once I am finished, to teach. I know Michigan is in the top 3 states of teacher salaries but there are no teaching jobs here cuz the pay is high and the living here is cheaper so everyone is flocking to Michigan and already established teachers won't give up their jobs. I really don't care about the pay because i love children and want to make a difference in their lives for the future...what areas in Florida would be the best to teach in? I am fluent in Spanish and Arabic so I think my languages would help me get a good teaching job...i would love to hear everyone's input...

[Pookie]

hey iluvflorida. i am not a teacher, but i live in florida. i believe florida is in the bottom 5 states as far as salaries go. it could even be the lowest. there's always a lot of talk about it in the newspaper down here. i hear of teachers leaving hear and moving up to georgia so they can make more money. wish i had better news for you. but if you really like florida, perhaps it's worth moving down here anyway.

[kimwick]

I think Pasco starts teachers out at 32500. The price of living is not bad if you plan on renting. Buying is another story. You can look up jobs at Pasco County Schools. There is always jobs. I do know Hillsbrough laid off a few. In Pasco you get paid every two weeks. Polk pays monthly. I don't know if this helps.

[kimwick]

Opps Pasco offers free Health Insurance for teachers and Non-Inst.

[cc871]

i've also been thinking about florida for a physical eduation teaching position...i plan to check out sarasota county and lee county...i was thinking of the naples area also but from what i understand it is more difficult to find a job there....anyone have any feedback on the sarasota and lee co. districts?
thanks

[iluvflorida]

i do hear alot of talk about teachers being underpaid in Florida, but i loved living there and i really miss it. I know there were recruiters from Tampa that came up here to Michigan in March because they said by next year 120,000 teachers will be needed in Florida...I am thinking about Tampa or South Florida like Broward County...would those be good areas to go to?

[Need_affordable_home]

It is true teachers get underpaid in Florida! Tons of them have left! If you dont care about the low $35k salary and the fact all youll be able to afford is a mobile home, go ahead. The weather is nice though and theres lots of mobile homes to chose from! If you come to Palm Beach County, I will personally help you find a nice mobile home in a friendly park!

[pslOldTimer]

That's probably a bit of an overstatement. I'm certain there are teachers living elsewhere than mobile homes.

Here in St. Lucie County, the school board became concerned and started a multi-pronged program to help. On the pro-active side, they contact rental managers, apartment complex owners and try to reach individual owners of rental homes with the message that teachers are desiable tenants, and to offer some sort of incentive to teachers to live in their location. Then, they put together a database of teacher-friendly rentals and recommend that new teachers moving into the area check those, first. Finally, they maintain a databse of new, mostly single teachers who are looking to find a roommate to share expenses.

Established teachers are often married and have multiple incomes; many of them live in very nice homes. My daughter is a teacher (high school band director, actually) and her husband is a firefighter-paramedic. Together, they make a respectable income and live in a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house with den on 2-1/2 acres of land with an oak-lined driveway, 3 car garage and 1/2 acre pond. They have 3 kids, a new car and a newish diesel F250. Their debt load is manageble. They're in a lot better shape than I was when I was 37.

But, they did it the hard way -- buying a fixer-upper, cracker-box house 10 years ago and gradually remodeling it into a nice home, today, with metal roof, hardiplank siding, hardwood floors, new bathrooms and kitchen and new decks. The problem with most young familes today, in my opinion, is that they want everything NOW! And, it all has to be the biggest and the best! To put it in perspective, the biggest TV in the kids's house is a 19" table model. That just isn't a high priority with them until they get all the hard stuff done.

They also didn't spend a whole lot of time worrying about it or complaining; they just dug in and made it work.

[floridamosquito]

Sarasota county is very well known for its very good schools. I am not a teacher, however, many families I know moved to the county just for that reason. My family did too. I do not know if here are better salaries than in other counties(I 've heard they are..). I just can say that my kids are doing much better in Sarasota public schools than where they were in private schools in three other counties in Florida.

[Need_affordable_home]

Great post, pslOldTimer! Do keep in mind houses were much cheaper back then. I have been looking at houses in ADs and here in Palm Beach County and a tiny 2 bedroomer fixer upper in a questionable neighboorhood on a tiny lot goes for 200k. Not what id call appealing at all. PSL is 75% the price of PBC so for 200k in PSL you can get something better.

Renting with a roomate will work in the short term but most people eventrually settle down, marry and sometimes have children. Many teachers are moving out of Florida to cheaper places