ORLANDO, Fla. — Weeks after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a plan to increase starting teacher pay, questions remain about how it will be funded and if the raises for new teachers will also be extended to current teachers.
Florida ranks 27th in the nation for starting teacher pay and 46th in the nation for average teacher pay.
DeSantis' plan, announced in early October, calls for more than $600 million to boost starting teacher pay by about $10,000.
While senators have praised the plan, House leadership has taken a more measured approach with Speaker of the House Jose Oliva issuing a statement saying in part that, "I am in receipt of the governor's statement regarding teacher compensation as I am of the over $2 billion of new spending requests from his agencies."
Those requests include $1.6 billion for emergency management as well as more than half a billion in requests from the Florida Department of Corrections, the Florida Department of Children and Families and state universities.
DeSantis is expected to lay out his budget proposal later this year.
It is expected he will provide more details about funding for new teachers as well as possible funding for current teachers within that budget.
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