The Florida Education Association (FEA) is accusing Gov. Ron DeSantis of failing public schools and not investing enough to support teachers’ salaries.
FEA, Florida’s largest teachers’ union representing more than 120,000 members, sent out a news release citing the latest study by the National Education Association (NEA) showing that Florida teachers are among the lowest paid in the country.
“The latest data shows that while average teacher pay in Florida rose to $56,663 in the 2025-26 school year (a 3.3% increase from the year before), it hasn’t come close to keeping pace with inflation. Over the last decade, the average teacher salary actually fell 12.4%, when adjusted for inflation while Florida’s average teacher salary rankings have fallen from 47th to almost dead last in the nation,” the FEA said.
“Meanwhile, education staff professionals, who are essential to school operations, are even worse off, earning just $34,645 on average — well below Florida’s living wage of $63,853 for a family of one adult and one child to have a modest but adequate standard of living.”
The state’s 2026-27 budget is still unfinished. In December, DeSantis proposed spending $1.56 billion on teacher raises in the budget.
“We put our money where our mouth is. We did record funding for teacher pay increases for Florida. And this proposal today is the biggest by far,” DeSantis said at the time.
That did not impress the FEA, which has often been at odds with DeSantis’ administration as the two sides take public shots at each other.
“Despite the Governor’s talk of ‘historic investment’ in teacher salaries, when adjusted for inflation, the average teacher salary in Florida fell by more than $3,000 during Gov. DeSantis’ two terms,” the FEA said in the news release.
“So far, that pattern shows no signs of changing: Florida has fallen to 41st in per-student spending this year, and both the Governor’s and the Legislature’s proposed budgets keep per-student spending flat, seemingly failing to deliver meaningful raises for teachers, and allowing Florida’s unaccountable voucher program to drain an estimated $4.5 billion from public school funding.”