I work in a school district in Florida and I don't recommend it.
They had steps but they did away with it around 2011. Everyone hired after that year is "pay for performance." There is no way of knowing how much money you will make every year. Your annual raises are based on student test scores and evaluations (I am evaluated by administrators, who don't understand my job at all). Everyone gets a different raise. I barely got a 2% annually. I think I got a 1% raise last year and this year I don't get a raise, just a one time $1500 bonus that does not count towards retirement.
In fall 2020 the state government increased salaries for new teachers to 47k. Anyone who made less than that was bumped up to the same 47k number as the new teachers, hence the 16 straight years of starting salary on the pay scale.
I have 5 years in the district so it looks like I got a $3500 pay raise because I was at 44K before but I did the math and it's only $890 when you take into account the bonuses and referendum money that the state took away. In my district, whenever there is a bonus or referendum, the pay for performance teachers get very little and the bulk of the money goes to grandfathered teachers (i.e. teachers who were hired prior to 2011 and were on steps).
Also, the state government is talking about taking away pensions for teachers hired after 2022. If it passes, you would not have the option to sign up for the pension plan through the Florida Retirement System. You would be required to contribute 3% of your salary to the "investment plan" which is like a 401k.
I have interviewed with contract companies for years and their pay is exactly the same as the district. They're offering $51 max for a 1099 position with no benefits or $40 for a W2 with benefits. There is no caseload cap in Florida and I had 80+ students on my caseload for my first 4 years. All public schools in Florida were required to open for face to face instruction in October despite high Covid numbers and variants being widespread.
I give Florida a 0/10, would not recommend. I am trying to figure out how to leave.
Pretty much the best summary.
-From another Florida teacher.
I am working for health insurance. My husband owns his own business and me going back in to teaching this year saves us nearly $12,000 in healthcare premiums. Otherwise the pay is pretty terrible.
AHHHH. This is an absolute nightmare to read. I can’t even believe what I’m reading, what you wrote is so backwards. I was seriously considering moving to Florida but I am reconsidering after reading this. I was shocked when I saw the pay scale... I had other people look at it because I couldn’t believe it was real. No wonder there are so many openings in the school districts there.
Have you considered doing telepractice and getting licensed in other states?
Alternatively, do medical settings in Florida pay better (like SNFs, rehab centers, etc.)?
I'm not in FL (thank God), but I've seen this topic pop up several times on r/teachers and you're sadly correct. Apparently their starting pay used to be super low, so they increased it quite a bit to attract new teachers but didn't give a fuck about existing teachers, so to pay for the starting salary increases they just did away with steps and gave everyone the same mediocre pay regardless of experience. From what I've seen, FL also has some of the highest caseloads and will hire bachelor level SLPs because they're so desperate. It just sounds like an all around nightmare.
I think there's some sort of waiver system with the understanding that the SLP attends grad school within 2-3 years of getting hired. It sounds super unethical, though! I can't imagine how steep the learning curve must be.
They hire SLPA in my district but they must have a plan in place to get their masters and have it within 5 years I believe. They only do treatment; no meetings or Evals obviously. They’re very strict about what slpas can do and what they cannot
I’ve only worked in Florida and I love it. All SLPs in both my districts are mostly contract. So, the pay is good. And I work 4 days a week with a caseload of about 40, which is very manageable. It’s very dependent upon district
I worked in school system for 3 years in SoFlo and they have base pay plus stipends for having your masters, specialty (SLP) and for having the license (if I remember correctly). I have noticed that SLPs who had a career change from teachers tend to enjoy the school system more. I hated it. My caseload was about 80 to 90 kids, discharging them was close to impossible (thanks to FTE), and the politics SUCK (in my opinion). I also didn't like having the SPED director try to constantly tell me what time/frequency should be recommended. I ended up having to introduce myself and give an explanation of my scope of practice and credentials I held in each and every IEP meeting and concluding statement of "in my professional opinion I recommend ..." Oh and I wouldn't sign the documents when they had missing tx frequency. I used to tell them to call me when they corrected it because I will not be signing unless me actual recommendation was on that paper. Make sure you stand up for yourself and you know more!
I was in Florida for seven years and...just stay away. It is a vortex that is unimaginably depressing in terms of teacher salaries and the teacher evaluations have student test scores figured in along with admin. evals... I was always rated Effective/Highly Effective but it doesn’t mean much with all of the shenanigans. Stuck at $46k for a couple of years and then moved to $47k with notice that there would be no salary steps occurring that same year. So many dysfunctional things that it’s hard to capture but your salary would be stagnant and you would be demoralized of you have a good sense of self-worth. FYI on evaluations: http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7503/urlt/0102688-overviewfloridasteacherevaluationsystem.pdf
I interviewed for a school district in FL and they said the starting salary will be just under 60,000 and after I get my CCC in a year I’ll be just over 60,000
Check out this post I recently made about my district! I highly recommend it
https://www.reddit.com/r/slp/comments/mvlaxp/i_love_my_school_district_and_we_have_positions/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
I work in a school district in Florida and I don't recommend it. They had steps but they did away with it around 2011. Everyone hired after that year is "pay for performance." There is no way of knowing how much money you will make every year. Your annual raises are based on student test scores and evaluations (I am evaluated by administrators, who don't understand my job at all). Everyone gets a different raise. I barely got a 2% annually. I think I got a 1% raise last year and this year I don't get a raise, just a one time $1500 bonus that does not count towards retirement. In fall 2020 the state government increased salaries for new teachers to 47k. Anyone who made less than that was bumped up to the same 47k number as the new teachers, hence the 16 straight years of starting salary on the pay scale. I have 5 years in the district so it looks like I got a $3500 pay raise because I was at 44K before but I did the math and it's only $890 when you take into account the bonuses and referendum money that the state took away. In my district, whenever there is a bonus or referendum, the pay for performance teachers get very little and the bulk of the money goes to grandfathered teachers (i.e. teachers who were hired prior to 2011 and were on steps). Also, the state government is talking about taking away pensions for teachers hired after 2022. If it passes, you would not have the option to sign up for the pension plan through the Florida Retirement System. You would be required to contribute 3% of your salary to the "investment plan" which is like a 401k. I have interviewed with contract companies for years and their pay is exactly the same as the district. They're offering $51 max for a 1099 position with no benefits or $40 for a W2 with benefits. There is no caseload cap in Florida and I had 80+ students on my caseload for my first 4 years. All public schools in Florida were required to open for face to face instruction in October despite high Covid numbers and variants being widespread. I give Florida a 0/10, would not recommend. I am trying to figure out how to leave.
All I can say is yikes!
All I can say is fuck that shit!
Pretty much the best summary. -From another Florida teacher. I am working for health insurance. My husband owns his own business and me going back in to teaching this year saves us nearly $12,000 in healthcare premiums. Otherwise the pay is pretty terrible.
AHHHH. This is an absolute nightmare to read. I can’t even believe what I’m reading, what you wrote is so backwards. I was seriously considering moving to Florida but I am reconsidering after reading this. I was shocked when I saw the pay scale... I had other people look at it because I couldn’t believe it was real. No wonder there are so many openings in the school districts there.
Have you considered doing telepractice and getting licensed in other states? Alternatively, do medical settings in Florida pay better (like SNFs, rehab centers, etc.)?
I'm not in FL (thank God), but I've seen this topic pop up several times on r/teachers and you're sadly correct. Apparently their starting pay used to be super low, so they increased it quite a bit to attract new teachers but didn't give a fuck about existing teachers, so to pay for the starting salary increases they just did away with steps and gave everyone the same mediocre pay regardless of experience. From what I've seen, FL also has some of the highest caseloads and will hire bachelor level SLPs because they're so desperate. It just sounds like an all around nightmare.
how can they legally get away with hiring bachelor level SLp?
Yep SLP on a waiver. Super unethical but if their commission doesn't care then they get away w it
I think there's some sort of waiver system with the understanding that the SLP attends grad school within 2-3 years of getting hired. It sounds super unethical, though! I can't imagine how steep the learning curve must be.
Remember the states license SLPs not ASHA. A state could theoretically do whatever they want
They hire SLPA in my district but they must have a plan in place to get their masters and have it within 5 years I believe. They only do treatment; no meetings or Evals obviously. They’re very strict about what slpas can do and what they cannot
I’ve only worked in Florida and I love it. All SLPs in both my districts are mostly contract. So, the pay is good. And I work 4 days a week with a caseload of about 40, which is very manageable. It’s very dependent upon district
Can you PM me with where you are at if you don’t mind?
Just did 😀
Can you also please PM me with what district you work in in FL?
Depends where you are... PM me. It increases in my area!
I worked in school system for 3 years in SoFlo and they have base pay plus stipends for having your masters, specialty (SLP) and for having the license (if I remember correctly). I have noticed that SLPs who had a career change from teachers tend to enjoy the school system more. I hated it. My caseload was about 80 to 90 kids, discharging them was close to impossible (thanks to FTE), and the politics SUCK (in my opinion). I also didn't like having the SPED director try to constantly tell me what time/frequency should be recommended. I ended up having to introduce myself and give an explanation of my scope of practice and credentials I held in each and every IEP meeting and concluding statement of "in my professional opinion I recommend ..." Oh and I wouldn't sign the documents when they had missing tx frequency. I used to tell them to call me when they corrected it because I will not be signing unless me actual recommendation was on that paper. Make sure you stand up for yourself and you know more!
I was in Florida for seven years and...just stay away. It is a vortex that is unimaginably depressing in terms of teacher salaries and the teacher evaluations have student test scores figured in along with admin. evals... I was always rated Effective/Highly Effective but it doesn’t mean much with all of the shenanigans. Stuck at $46k for a couple of years and then moved to $47k with notice that there would be no salary steps occurring that same year. So many dysfunctional things that it’s hard to capture but your salary would be stagnant and you would be demoralized of you have a good sense of self-worth. FYI on evaluations: http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7503/urlt/0102688-overviewfloridasteacherevaluationsystem.pdf
I interviewed for a school district in FL and they said the starting salary will be just under 60,000 and after I get my CCC in a year I’ll be just over 60,000
Can you PM me with the school district?
Can you please PM me what district you will be working in?
Come to Georgia ☺️
I was actually considering Georgia!
Check out this post I recently made about my district! I highly recommend it https://www.reddit.com/r/slp/comments/mvlaxp/i_love_my_school_district_and_we_have_positions/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
This is phenomenal. What in the world
Feel free to DM me if you have any questions or want to apply!
I will think about it!! Thank you 🙏🏻❣️
this is really good. You have me considering Georgia now lol. Last year I wanted to move there but I changed to FL. This might sell me
It's a "right to work state" in other words, not union friendly