Are public schools in trouble?

Highlands County public schools are currently short 51 full-time teachers. In addition, we have 22 support staff vacancies. These are huge numbers for our little county. Last year in Florida as a whole there were 5,000 teacher vacancies! This year that number has increased to 8,000 teacher vacancies; that equates to 8,000 teachers divided by 30 students per teacher equals 267 classrooms without a teacher-certified teacher.

Our teacher pay is so low that Florida ranks 48th in the nation in teacher salaries.

Were you one of those who received numerous pre-election full-color fliers in the mail from Governor Desantis proclaiming that he had raised teacher salaries to the top ninth in the nation? Well, in reality, he did raise starting teacher salary to among the top 20%; but what he didn't say is that the the average Florida public school teacher's salary is 48th in the nation, according to the National Education Association, a huge org made up largely of teachers.

When he entered office, Florida was 47th; so it's even lower now in relation to everywhere else.

Why is Florida's teacher pay so low? That is the question.

The Florida Education Association (FEA) has determined that the governor's reason is to make private schools a more attractive alternative; to vastly increase the number of private schools ("charter schools"), while decreasing the number and quality of public schools. (In this state, privatization has already occurred in the penal system where prisons are for-profit institutions, and in the health insurance industry, where insurance companies sell what used to be government-run Medicare (by adding to it and calling it "Medicare Advantage").

DeSantis and the legislature make no secret about wanting to privatize public education — arguably the country's most important civic institution. Their "school choice" movement really means expanding alternatives to public schools. They provide tax-payer money to charter schools (which are publicly funded but privately managed) to pay for tuition and other costs. These schools, unlike public schools, can discriminate against LGBTQ, alternate religions and ethnic backgrounds.

Public schools are the backbone in every country of a healthy, multi-cultural, multi-religious open-minded student body. If our governor wants instead to promote private schools, let him say so, but not pretend that he's fully funding public education when in fact he isn't.

Anne Kennedy is a resident of Lake Placid.