DeSantis Puts Up $800 Million for Teacher Salaries

Governor DeSantis (R-FL) continued his push for changes to Florida's state education policies. After eliminating the FSA testing, and expanding education program funding, DeSantis's newest initiative is allocating $800 million for teacher salaries.

In Palm Beach County, FL, DeSantis addressed the state of Florida from a classroom in Renaissance Charter School.

"We've worked really hard, particularly over the last few years, to increase teacher compensation in the state of Florida," said Governor DeSantis.  The governor pointed to last year's budget which included one thousand dollar bonuses  for every public school teacher and principal in the entire state of Florida.

DeSantis added that while this new increase will cost the state over half a billion dollars, it comes from the desire to, "increase salaries," adding, "one of the goals we have is to increase the average minimum salary across the state of Florida.  We want to recruit more people to come in [to the state], they got to be able to afford to be teachers."

With this funding, Florida teachers will see one of the biggest monetary increases in education spending in, "modern Florida history," according to the DeSantis administration.

DeSantis is troubled by the fact that "only 12% of school districts across the United States have teachers started at over $40,000, so 88% are below that."  But, the governor said, "in Florida, 92% are already above that," and also made mention of rural districts who have since been brought up due to his leadership.

DeSantis also expressed his pride in the state university system's commitment to increasing access to higher education by keeping tuition affordable to students.