ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 With students heading back to school on Monday, school districts across Central Florida are making a final push to fill the remaining teacher vacancies.<\/p>\n
The good news: Districts are entering the new school year in much better shape than they were just a few years ago, and significantly better than they were at the start of the summer.<\/p>\n
Still, dozens of classrooms across the region remain without permanent teachers as the first day of school gets underway.<\/p>\n
Districts report making significant progress over the past several months, with some hiring hundreds of teachers since the start of summer.<\/p>\n
In Orange County, teacher vacancies have fallen to about 1% of positions and continue to decline.<\/p>\n
Volusia County has also made major progress. The district had more than 400 teacher openings at the start of the summer. Now, just 43 remain.<\/p>\n
Brevard County reports it has filled nearly all of its roughly 4,800 teacher vacancies.<\/p>\n
Other districts are also heading into the school year with relatively small numbers of openings:<\/p>\n
Seminole County: 29 openingsOsceola County: 53 openingsMarion County: 68 openingsLake County: 41 openings<\/p>\n
District leaders credit partnerships with colleges and universities, hiring events and earlier recruiting efforts for helping bring down vacancy numbers.<\/p>\n
The goal, they say, is straightforward: Make sure there is a qualified teacher ready to welcome students in every classroom when the first bell rings.<\/p>\n
However, the hiring effort won\u2019t end when school starts.<\/p>\n
Districts say they will continue recruiting throughout the semester to fill positions that become available during the school year.<\/p>\n
For school leaders, the progress made this summer is encouraging, but the push to keep classrooms staffed will continue well beyond the first day of school.<\/p>\n
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