Like much of Florida, Orange County Public Schools started the school year with a shortage of teachers. 

The compounding factors of low pay, ever-more-intense scrutiny of classroom instruction by noneducators and the COVID-19 pandemic (read: the state’s pushback against mitigating the spread) have made classroom instruction in Florida increasingly undesirable. The school year has just started and OCPS currently has over 200 open listings for instructors on their jobs site.

There are over 4,000 vacancies in public schools statewide. The crisis has pushed Gov. Ron DeSantis to try novel ways to paper over the lack of teacher attraction and retention in the state.

Florida has one of the worst average salaries for teachers in the entire US, frequently competing for last with states like Mississippi. The average salary for a Florida teacher hovers below $50K and well below the national average of over $60K.  Rather than fixing that, lawmakers have pushed allowing people with fewer qualifications to teach.

Former and current teachers recently took to Orlando’s subreddit to vent their frustrations over the shortage and its causes. Check out a few of their testimonies. 

If I went to a wedding like this, I too would be talking shit about it… fuck you mean you’re not providing catering??? At a WEDDING?? pic.twitter.com/12OMKlQogu— Ash (@theashrb) June 5, 2022
I just can’t stop thinking about how it costs $5500 for an hour of Mickey and Minnie’s time at a Disneyland wedding https://t.co/R9cQMTN9MJ— Cody (@codybondarchuk) June 8, 2022
This just makes me want to hate Disney adults even more. https://t.co/eRiFLKnHCU— Ash the Gay Snake (@NannerNeff) June 7, 2022
I'm a religion studies professor researching Disney and this is Jackass https://t.co/Ex6QvEcfbV— hyperinflation fetishist (@oinkophobia) June 7, 2022
if you pay for Mickey and Minnie instead of dinner for your weddings guests you’re not seeing god https://t.co/hquGKeNito— xanax in a cinnabon (ali) (@xanabon) June 7, 2022
"There is food available nearby?" NOJODA! https://t.co/HecWBn2Ikj— lili_pl (@lili_pl) June 7, 2022
People shouldn’t bully “Disney adults” because it’s pointless and mean-spirited, but the religious devotion to a conglomerate that does not love you but wants your money is most certainly pathological and worth examining. Max Weber (cited in the below thread) would agree. https://t.co/0T0jhiBaLo— Aren R. LeBrun (@proustmalone) June 7, 2022
I am being so serious rn when I say we are not bullying Disney adults enough https://t.co/N9FhTQyMat— Jacob (@redmagejacob93) June 7, 2022 Credit: Universal Orlando Resort unveils a very unique new portal at its park.
You go to a wedding for the food, drinking and dancing (and I guess the ceremony 😂). These are bad wedding hosts. https://t.co/z5sBGzLK12— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) June 7, 2022
I'm an American Studies professor researching the Manson Family and I'm here to tell you why to stop pathologizing commune dwellers,…. https://t.co/Uy8s1aos8Y— Jeff Melnick (@melnickjeffrey1) June 7, 2022
my brain cannot comprehend this, in theory I should be ok with it, but I cannot process it, imagine going to an Indian wedding and there is NO FOOD, there would also be no marriage in fact there would be riots, in fact if it was Haryana there would be gunfire, and about 6 murders https://t.co/KcBqpeMEZR— Shiv Ramdas Traing To Rite Buk (@nameshiv) June 7, 2022
The worst part about this is all the guests had to pretend to be excited to meet Mickey and Minnie, people they know are just adults in a giant mouse costumes, hungry and completely sober. https://t.co/0kYcpQZfER— Lucy Huber (@clhubes) June 7, 2022
Disney adults need to be studied https://t.co/RWDd17wEYV— Lo Castillo (@LoLo4Uu) June 7, 2022
Credit: Photo by ajari via Wikimedia Commons