Even though I loved my wonderful teacher colleagues, the kids and the weather in Florida, after five years I came back to New York because the state of Florida treats teachers pretty badly. It made me appreciate the union so much more.
In New York, we’re used to getting automatic raises in the form of salary steps. In Florida public schools, you don’t go to the next step automatically; everything has to be negotiated. When I moved there, they gave me credit for all my prior teaching experience, and I was in better shape than teachers who had been teaching in Florida their whole lives. But then my salary stayed the same for five years. There are lots of teachers who have jobs on the side. It seems to be the norm because salaries just don’t go up.
There’s no tenure in Florida. You work under a contract for as long as the principal wants you. If enrollment goes down and the school loses a class, you lose your position and have to go through the whole hiring process again at another school.
We had to pay for our health insurance; there was a fee for dental, a fee for vision. And the pension benefit was so much less. I thought what? I’m running back to New York!
In Florida, I didn’t have a union rep to turn to in my school or in the district; there’s no one to call if you have a problem. We complained among ourselves and that was pretty much it.
I used to tell the teachers there, “If we were in New York, they wouldn’t be able to get away with this!” Now that I’m here, I’m not going anywhere.
Helen Smith is a teacher at PS 51 in the Bronx.
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