Parents And Teachers Rejoice As DeSantis Signs In Groundbreaking Legislation To Improve Classrooms, Give Pay Raises In Florida

Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed a handful of bills centered around improvements to education on Tuesday at a school in Miami-Dade.

Per Chalkbeat, teachers are leaving the profession at record high numbers due to a multitude of reasons, a major one being the changes brought upon the profession by COVID-19. Stress levels for teachers are also continuing to rise, with the pay notably remaining relatively stagnant. DeSantis’ bills aim to remedy these problems.

Per the Florida governor's website, one bill passed by DeSantis will provide a ‘Teachers’ Bill of Rights,’ which formally gives all teachers the right to teach within a safe and orderly classroom. DeSantis also signed a bill aiming to address poor compensation for teachers' work, by allocating $1.05 billion for teacher pay increases. DeSantis states that the amount of money put forth for pay increases is a record for the state. 

Other bills signed include legislation that would prohibit teachers’ unions from deducting union dues directly from paychecks, impose term limits on school board members, reduce terms from twelve to eight years, and give teachers the authority to establish their own rules on cell phone use within their classrooms. 

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“We have delivered another record boost to teacher pay and we have coupled salary increases with positive reforms. For far too long, unions and rogue school boards have pushed around our teachers, misused government funds for political purposes, taken money from teachers’ pockets to steer it for purposes other than representation of teachers, and sheltered their true political goals from the educators they purport to represent,” said Governor DeSantis.

DeSantis has received praise for the bills signed, with parents specifically thrilled about the changes. One happy parent said “In schools, we should be focused on one thing which is learning, and not distracted by all these outside factors,” per CBS 12. Another parent said “It will clear out a lot of clutter – it will help them focus more. And I think that is a helpful environment to teach them that they should be focusing on what’s in front of them.”

One bill has drawn notable criticism, specifically the bill banning union fees from being collected directly from teachers' paychecks. Florida's largest teacher union has already filed a lawsuit against Governor DeSantis, accusing DeSantis of punishing “disfavored unions,” and calling the new law “draconian,” per Business Insider.

Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union, said the new measures were insulting, stating “Like they don’t have the intelligence to understand what they get paid and what they pay out, or if they’re joining a union? They don’t understand if they did or didn’t? It’s insulting.”

Despite the unhappiness from the teachers union, the bills have still been seen as a resounding success and look to alleviate a lot of the problems that teachers have been facing in the classroom.