Teachers! Don't even think about moving to S Florida!

[Chelsa1075]

Luke - where does your wife teach? I'm only asking, because I am looking for a good school for my boys and Florida is just so funny with school, it can be good in Elementary and Middle, but then High school is terrible. I'm wondering why this is.

[TANaples]

Originally Posted by lukeb321

My wife is in her 7th year teaching in Broward, she loves it, feels very secure, has a great administration behind her and most importantly loves her job. Nobody is going anywhere, and they actually just hired a new 2nd grade teacher, as well as 2 more ESE teachers. Last ones in are the first ones out but your seniority follows you within in district. This is from another "insider", so I'm not sure where your getting your info. She said that yes, its harder than years past to get a job but nobody at work is worried about their position. Don't believe the hype of the media.

A new teacher moving down to Florida will not have Seniority.

[TANaples]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

IF things get bad enough and the company can justify it, there is little to nothing a union can do to stop that. You just have to hope and pray there isn't a huge population decline and student enrollment goes down significantly. If that happens, all bets are off. That is what is happening in South Florida, you are seeing population (young families) leave south Florida. With them go student enrollment, property taxes etc

Collier lost 400 kids last year and Lee lost 2,000 kids. For each of those kids lost, that means that particular district has to give back money to the state.

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by TANaples

Collier lost 400 kids last year and Lee lost 2,000 kids. For each of those kids lost, that means that particular district has to give back money to the state.

I DID NOT KNOW THAT! That is crazy! So man, its like a double whammy. Your strapped for cash and then you gotta pay out for the kids lost. That sucks to no end

[BigPecs8]

LukeB - Don't mean to sound like you're oblivious to what's going on but are you really in S Florida? Did you not see the Dade County teachers picketing last week? Are you aware that promises made by all 3 school boards - Dade, Broward, Palm Beach - are being broken in an effort to "balance the budget"? Did you not see the Broward Teacher's Union bring all those little pigs to the last school board meeting? Are you not aware that there is a hiring freeze in Palm Beach county? When we say S FL we do mean South Florida!

[lukeb321]

We see it but layoffs are the last thing that will happen. There is so much wasteful spending and unnecessary things that are finally being cut. There might some special teachers who are forced to pick up the slack and shifting of positions - some of those stuffy downtown employees might go back into the classroom but that's about it. We just had dinner with her AP and she wasn't worried about anything (except meeting AYP).

Going back to the op, I would feel a little worried starting a new job in a new city but that's ANY job in this market. I feel pretty confident that they will always need somebody to "babysit" their little angels.