The Military Veterans Teacher Certification Pathway, which will allow veterans without a bachelor’s degree but with some college credits to teach in the classroom, could help widen the pipeline of potential teachers for Lee County schools.

“It opens that pathway to get more teachers in the classroom that haven’t yet met the requirements, but are working to get the requirements. It gets them in sooner,” Assistant Director for Recruitment Suzette Rivera said.

The new initiative to get veterans in the classroom was part of a bill passed unanimously by the state legislature this fall and which was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in June.

On July 1, Florida started issuing a five-year temporary certificate for military veterans who have met certain eligibility requirements but have not yet earned a bachelor’s degree.

Those eligibility requirements include a minimum of 48 months of active duty military service with honorable/medical discharge; minimum of 60 college credits with a 2.5 grade point average; a passing score on a Florida subject area examination for bachelor’s level subjects, demonstrating mastery of subject area knowledge and employment in a Florida school district, including charter schools.

Florida teachers currently are required to have a bachelor’s degree and training in teaching.

The School District of Lee County currently has 198 instructional positions open, said Rob Spicker, district spokesperson. “They are spread out across the district, but the majority are in the East Zone (Lehigh Acres).”

Veterans who take advantage of this program and are hired must work toward the completion of their college degree. They must also take and pass a subject area exam, just as any teacher is required to do, to demonstrate their proficiency in the subjects they are going to teach.

To continue teaching after the five-year temporary certificate expires, the veteran must have earned their degree and passed the test to become a certified teacher, Spicker said.

The school district has quite a number of veterans already employed and teaching students, Rivera said. Troops to Teachers, at the state level, reached out to the district because of the high number of veterans that are employed, Rivera said. Next month they will be interviewing those veterans and district staff.

“Our veterans have a wealth of knowledge and experience they can bring to bear in the classroom,” DeSantis said this past week while publicly rolling out the program. “With this initiative approach, they will be able to do so for five years while they work on their degree.”

Rivera said normally it’s a three-year temporary certificate. The Military Veterans Teacher Certification Pathway provides an additional two years.

DeSantis took a swipe at the requirements to be a teacher while making his announcement.

“For too long, the requirements to be a teacher have been too rigid, with union bosses insisting that all educators get certain credentials that have little impact on teaching performance,” he said.

“Every morning our students recite the pledge of allegiance while looking at the Star Spangled Banner. It’s fitting that the teacher in the classroom is somebody who took an oath and put his or her life on the line to preserve, protect and defend our flag and the freedom it represents,” DeSantis said.

The areas that are in higher need of teachers in the School District of Lee County include math, science, English, or language arts, as well as special education. To teach in one of these subjects, the subject area exam needs to be taken and passed, Rivera said.

All teachers who are hired into the school district fall in line with one of their human resource staff members to make sure they have all the requirements they need and are on track with meeting their milestones. They also receive professional development and are assigned a mentor.

A mentor, someone who will work with the veteran one-on-one, will remain with them for the first year and is typically someone in the same building, grade level, or content area.

The district is offering Zoom hours with a recruitment team member for veterans who have questions, or need assistance with the application process, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

“It’s not by appointment. You can log on and jump in,” Rivera said. 

“Our team is excited to connect with veterans on pathways to teaching,” Rivera said. “The need for teachers is greater than ever and we feel fortunate to have an opportunity where we can bring Veterans in our classrooms to positively impact students’ lives.” 

 The School District’s recruitment department is available Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. for veterans to join a zoom with career experts to walk them through the application process and answer any other questions they may have. The zoom link is available at https://www.leeschools.net/careers/veterans_certification. The Drop in With Lee Zoom sessions are available to anyone with a career question for the School District.

Veterans who want to become teachers can also learn more and start the application process on the Florida’ Department of Education website.