Fla. recruits military veterans as school teachers

August 18, 2022 Sophia Flores US 0

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) at the Miami-Dade Emergency Operations Center in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images)

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UPDATED 10:05 AM PT – Thursday, August 18, 2022

Military veterans have served on the front lines of the battlefield and they will now serve on the frontlines of the classroom. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hopes to recruit veterans to fill in teacher vacancies. There are currently nearly 9,000 across the state.

During a Tuesday statement, DeSantis announced that he wants state legislators to open up new opportunities for veterans, law enforcement officers and first responders to get temporary teaching certificates.

Gov. DeSantis Highlights Education Initiatives https://t.co/w9GZl30HsY

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) August 17, 2022

DeSantis announced the Florida Department of Education launched a website with the details of the program called the Military Veterans Certification Pathway. The program allows qualifying veterans to receive a five-year temporary education certificate while they finish their bachelor’s degree.

“If you have four years of active-duty military service, if you’ve been honorably discharged, if you have a minimum of 60 college credits with a 2.5 or better grade point average and you have a passing score on the subject area exam for the course you want to teach, you’re going to be able to get a five-year temporary teaching certificate,” DeSantis explained. “You’ll be eligible to be hired as you work to your four year bachelors degree.”

The Governor stressed that there are no better people to fill teaching positions than veterans who have already served our country.

In Florida, we believe veterans have a wealth of knowledge and experience they can bring to the classroom, so we created a new program to help veterans become teachers.

We stand by our veterans and want them in our classrooms. pic.twitter.com/PlDIb3lz8w

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) August 11, 2022

However, teacher unions have strongly opposed the idea. They said educators are angry at how someone with merely a high school education can pass the test and get a five-year temporary certificate while others had to go through a more strenuous process to obtain the certificate.

The Florida State Board of Education is now considering a rule to outline the qualifications and steps that veterans need to take take in order to obtain the temporary teaching certificate without a bachelor’s degree.