>>This week on NewsNight, can policymakers and schools find ways to reduce Florida's teacher shortage?

Plus, a look at a move to exempt more public sector workers from a Florida law banning the automatic deduction of union dues.

NewsNight starts now.

[MUSIC] Hello, I'm Steve Mort, and welcome to NewsNight where we take an in-depth look at the top stories and issues in central Florida and how they affect all of us.

First tonight, the future of public sector unions in Florida.

Last year, a law came into effect which bars membership dues being taken directly from workers paychecks.

It also means 60% or more of union members must pay dues.

Otherwise the union is decertified, upending employment contracts.

Florida is a right to work state, so employees covered by unions have not been required to pay dues.

Supporters describe the legislation as paycheck protection.

Critics say it amounts to union busting.

Hundreds of workers at UCF are among tens of thousands of public sector workers in Florida who've already lost their union.

According to records requests by our public media colleagues at WLRN in Miami, thousands more face the same fate around the state.

Police, firefighters and corrections unions are exempt and in efforts underway in the legislature to exempt more workers.

More on that in a moment.

But first, I talk this week with WLRN investigative reporter Danny Rivero, who has been covering the fallout for unions.

>>The result of it is that these paycheck protection protections make it more difficult for unions to stay alive and for workers to have representation when it comes to contracts.

So we're seeing and what I've been finding is tens of thousands of workers that have unions right now, they have had their unions completely dissolved.

They are no longer recognized for collective bargaining by the state of Florida, including over 40,000 state of Florida employees.

>>How do unions view this push in Florida compared to, say, the 2011 law passed in Wisconsin curtailing government sector unions?

>>Almost everyone I talked to for this story mentioned the Wisconsin law as this is what Florida is following in the footsteps.

But when you look at the nitty gritty of what's happening in Florida, it's actually much more stringent.

In Wisconsin, part of that law required an annual vote for a majority of workers to vote on continuing to keep the union alive.

In Florida it's not the vote, it's you have to pay dues.

And what this law has done is it's actually created the threshold of 60% of people have to pay in a right to work state, which is asking quite a lot.

And, you know, the fear is that this is going to be very quick.

The decertification.

We've already seen tens of thousands of workers completely lose their unions.

There's there's many unions that are in the process of being decertified.

And I can tell you a couple that I just got word of too.

The Orlando Aviation Authority employees at the airports, over 100 employees, they could lose their union.

They don't hit they haven't hit that 60%.

Almost 500 city of Orlando employees are at risk of losing their unions.

Polk County teachers, almost 7,000 people, they have not hit the 60%.

University of Central Florida groundskeepers, custodians, other non instructional staff, they have already lost their union.

And that's, you know, several hundred people right there.

>>Well, we should note that WUCF is licensed to the University of Central Florida.

Let's bring in our panel now to break it all down.

Joining us in the studio this week, investigative reporter at WKMG News 6 Erik Sandoval.

Thanks so much for coming in.

>>Of course.

>>Good to see you, Alexa Lorenzo, reporter and also morning host over at WFTV, Channel 9.

Thanks for being here, Alexa.

Good to see you as well.

And Curtis McCloud, investigative reporter and anchor as well over at Spectrum News 13, got all the numbers represented.

We do thank you for being here, guys.

Appreciate it.

Erik, let me start with last year's law, if we can.

I mean, what kinds of workers have been most affected by the changes in rules for labor unions?

>>Well, I think we just saw it in your interview.

I mean, a lot of them are I don't want to term them basic workers, but these are workers that don't make much money to begin with.

These are, you know, here at UCF, it's the groundskeeper.

Clerical workers, engineers, dispatchers in some cases.

I think what's more important, though, are the the union people that are not affected by this.

And those are the people that are exempt.

The law enforcement is specifically law enforcement mentioned in the legislation.

>>Yeah.

And firefighters as well, I think I mean, Curtis it seems like teachers unions are some of the most exposed organizations.

>>And they are, Steve.

And that's one of the things we see with SB 256 in how their impacted by this.

I was just on campus about a month ago here at UCF and they were doing drives for to encourage some of the instructional workers to join the union because now-- >>United Faculty of Florida.

>>Yeah, exactly.

And so they say now that we have to encourage them to join up because they can no longer do it, do it through their paychecks, which was something that went away when this law was.

So when it was signed into law, this bill was signed into law last year.

So, yes, very exposed and very, very you know, it's a it's a hot button issue.

When you talk a little bit about how it's impacting some of those instructional instructional-- >>And they feel that this this law is kind of unfairly targeting them.

I mean, Alexa, let's talk a little bit more about the impact specifically in central Florida.

Danny Rivera there from WLRN indicated that the future is kind of uncertain for many public sector workers here in our region.

WFTV's covered this story, too.

How does it look from your reporting?

>>Yeah, we saw a lot of controversy come out of Valencia County where the district said, hey, you're not meeting the numbers.

And then the union said it's not your job to tell us that we're not meeting the numbers.

We're working on it with the state.

And that was a meeting that night that got quite rowdy.

There was a lot of pushback there.

So we're talking about Volusia County at risk.

We're talking about Polk County Teachers Union at risk, city employees.

We've already heard from Orlando.

Danny Rivera mentioned the airport, other cities, Jacksonville, Pensacola, Bradenton, Sebring, Sanibel.

The list goes on.

The latest public records that I looked over shows more than about 35 public bargaining units, unions already gone, and a good slice for that pie is right here in central Florida.

>>It's pretty significant.

News 6 has also been across this story.

What is the governor and supporters of this legislation say about why it was needed in the first place?

>>Well, they say, you know, we've been hearing this for quite a while now, that teacher pay in particular is really low and they've been trying to get that up.

>>Yeah.

>>You know, I think pay across the board is low right now, especially with the economic situation that we're all in.

So, you know, one of the caveats of this legislation was union dues will not be automatically deducted from your paycheck anymore.

This is going to be you know, if you're a teacher, you're hand writing a check to the union.

Therefore, your take home pay is more so that was a big sell for this legislation when it passed.

>>Basically protecting people's paychecks.

>>Absolutely.

>>They get what they expect.

Curtis, I mean, the state has predicted that unions will become stronger because of this legislation.

I mean, are there any instances where that's happening?

>>Yeah, we actually see it happening down at FIU where they've kind of taken it and as my grandma say, it struck the match and lit a fire under them and kind of work in a way that we can strengthen our numbers here so that we can we can protect our union and protect our interest here, because there are strength in numbers giving our our union more resources.

>>It's actually worth noting that the right to collective bargaining is actually enshrined in Florida's constitution, which makes this interesting from a legal point of view.

Let's mention this session's bill on unions.

Lawmakers are looking to exempt more unions, including those representing EMT and paramedics.

The bill also looks to change the way waivers are given to transit unions amid a court fight over federal funding that could be at risk if those workers don't have collective bargaining rights.

Transit employees were given a carve out in the legislation last year.

Alexa, critics say that this bill also makes it easier for the state to decertify unions.

Just tell us about it briefly.

>>They're saying that 60% threshold is a high bar to reach in a short amount of time.

A UCF professor that was interviewed, that's part of the United Faculty of Florida said if they really wanted this to be in our benefit, they would have given us a few years to get to this 60%.

Time is ticking.

So they do think that's where that decertification and why they feel that they're at risk because it is such a difficult bar to reach.

But you talked about the transit workers and it's all connected to whether or not it's being deducted from their paycheck.

The federal funding with that.

So that's something that they're looking at as well for the legislation to just make sure that that waiver is granted so that they don't lose any potential federal money for state projects.

>>Really interesting time for the labor market in Florida for sure.

You can find a link to the new union bill and also to data collected by WLRN on the status of labor unions in our state.

It's all on our website, wucf.org/newsnight.

All right, next tonight, the fight over public sector unions in Florida comes against the backdrop of the state's teacher shortage.

The Florida Education Association says there are thousands of unfilled teaching vacancies.

In January, Democrats filed a bill to make it easier for retired teachers to return to the classroom.

They, along with certain other state employees, are allowed to start working again and collect a paycheck while their retirement benefits accrue interest in a trust fund.

Proposed legislation would remove a required six month waiting period after a teacher's retirement kicks in before they can go back to work.

Vanessa Skipper from the Brevard teachers union says the issues underlying the teacher shortage should be addressed.

She blames pay as well as recent laws aimed at the teaching of certain concepts in classrooms.

>>There's always been in place standards, curriculum and teachers follow their standards.

They follow their curriculum.

So the idea that they have to put changes in place and pass these laws so that teachers aren't teaching whatever it is they think that we're teaching or indoctrinating children is just insanity.

And I think it's created a lot of fear in teachers to be afraid to teach.

And I think that's why some teachers have left as well, because, you know, civics is messy, American history is messy.

And there are topics that you have to learn about and you have to discuss.

And all it takes is one parent who finds something objectionable and they're blasting this teacher all over social media.

They're causing them to stress out because now they're calling the school, they're calling the school board, they're posting pictures of the teacher.

And really, people are like, yeah, this is this is too much.

It's not worth my mental health.

I'm walking away from the profession.

So that's one of the things that we see.

I think, unfortunately, the shor People are choosing to leave mid-career to go to another profession.

And I think year after year after year of a lack of respect from a multitude of issues, one of them obviously being pay.

The pay and teaching does not keep pace with other degreed professionals, even in the public sector.

So when people are thinking long term planning, they're wanting to buy houses, they're wanting to think about retirement, they are moving into other sectors.

Vanessa Skipper there.

Okay, Alexa, let me come to you first on this one.

Let's start with the specific idea that was put forth to sort of try to reduce the wait time for retired teachers.

I mean, what did the bill sponsors envisage there?

>>So they need help and they need help now.

So at this point, Senate Bill 1482 would get rid of the need for teachers looking to rejoin the workforce to wait that half a year.

But in the original bill filing, they weren't very clear as to mention that new time limit.

So everything's kind of up in the air for this retired staff.

They say, okay, we can allocate the money in the trust and let it accrue.

But then how long do we have to wait?

Okay, It's not six months, is it four?

It's trying to accomplish something without being incredibly detailed.

>>You know, it's so interesting, too, that you would think there's this almost be a no brainer.

You know, you have a teacher shortage.

You would just say, hey, let's get rid of this six months and let's just move forward here.

>>They have all this experience.

>>The need is there.

>>The need is there.

>>I guess it's sort of supposed to address the idea of double dipping in some way.

They don't want people to just take advantage of those benefits-- >>But they also don't want kids sitting in a classroom without a teacher.

Right.

>>Exactly right.

I mean, Erik, you've done some reporting on the teacher shortage as well in the way schools have sort of been trying to find ways to keep teachers in the classroom.

What have you found?

>>Well, you know, one big factor for teachers staying or going is safety, especially nowadays.

You know, some districts are looking at arming teachers and staff as as a way to be a solution in that realm.

Volusia County started a teacher support academy.

And actually we did a story not long ago for our Solution Areas franchise Ace Academy in the Paramour area of Orlando.

They had this wonderful mentorship program where, you know, beginning teachers who are just graduating and getting their teaching certificates, teaching at Ace Academy once a week or once a month.

They have their former professors actually come to the school and they have a closed door session.

What are you feeling?

Are you are you nervous?

Are you anxious?

You know, how is your relationship with the kids?

How can we improve that?

Basically, setting the teachers up to succeed.

So I think that's one of the perks that, you know, especially Orange County Public Schools is rolling out.

>>Some interesting innovation.

I mean, also within OCPS Alexa.

I mean, the district announced that it's offering teachers a 9% pay increase.

I think they did that last week, but with a hike in insurance premiums as well.

I mean, what's the district saying about that plan and how have unions responded to that?

>>The district is saying we can't do one without the other.

And they're saying that the increase that you'll see in your salary is far more than what we're asking you to pay for a little more in those insurance premiums.

At this point, Dr. Vasquez, the superintendent, says they would approximately be about $32 a paycheck, but that adds up quickly.

So the union is saying that's not acceptable.

We can't keep hiking this for teachers.

The district says we haven't done it in four years, but there are different plans for insurance policies.

So while it may be 32, for some it may be in the hundreds for others.

So they haven't really come to that strong agreement just yet.

They like the salary increase, that's for sure.

But the insurance premium, that's a sticking point right now.

>>They say it could be a problem for people earning at the low level.

>>There was a school magistrate actually that said they shouldn't be hiking up the insurance premium for the salary.

>>You know, we talked on the show last week about the sort of myriad legislation that's been targeted at education over the last couple of years, a curriculum and so forth.

And as we heard that from the union in Brevard, that's one of the factors that she, Vanessa Skipper, thinks is contributing to teachers getting out of the game.

What do you hear from from teachers when you talk to them?

Is that fair to say?

>>In a word, absolutely.

You know, I wrote down some of the legislation that that she talked about, too, the don't say gay legislation, the pronouns, the name rules.

You have to get permission slips from parents.

Teachers are basically having to hopscotch all around this legislation.

And a lot of this legislation isn't written very clearly.

You know, there's still questions that need to be answered, but in the end, they're risking losing their teaching certification if they violate any of these rules.

So the stakes are high for these teachers.

They just need more clarity on what they can and they cannot do.

>>I know and I think about it, too.

Going back to even when I was in school, especially in high school, there were so many things we did and the conversations that we had.

And I'm like, Oh my gosh, if some of these rules and regulations were in place, oh yeah, yeah, it'll be-- >>My teachers would be gone.

>>Same here.

>>You've done a bit of reporting, right, as well on these laws.

I mean, what do you think?

>>I think the crux of it here is kind of what Erik is saying is like a lot of it has to do with some of the constraints that gray area that's there.

The teachers don't know.

Okay, can I get away with this, can I get away with that?

Or is this going to cross a line?

>>And sometimes they want to help the students.

And it's not just teaching.

If a student comes to them for help.

>>Counseling.

>>Yeah.

>>Exactly.

How many times did I go to your room in high school and I need to talk to you about this?

And, you know, you just got a chance to really - because you you spend all this time with these teachers, you build a relationship with them, you feel comfortable with them, and you open up to them.

And that was great.

I mean, those conversations we have, were invaluable it helped shape who I am today.

So it's like, you know, teachers are battling that.

One teacher I spoke with just a couple of weeks ago said there's also there's another issue, the struggle, the ongoing struggle of the parent, teacher, student dynamic nowadays, too.

So there's a lot of that involved.

>>Eggshells.

>>Parental rights has been a big issue in our state.

I mean, to be fair, Florida's not the only state, right?

That is that is facing a teacher shortage.

This is kind of a national problem.

>>It is.

It's across the board.

Nationwide, Florida's tried its best to find ways to combat the shortage, depending on who you talk to, some teachers say, yeah, it's working.

We filled such and such spots in schools.

Other teachers say, okay, but are these teachers certified enough?

Do they have enough experience?

We've seen new legislation extending how long a teacher can be on a temporary certificate from three years to five.

We've seen military veterans and other service members and other professions skip that general knowledge exam to get them in the classroom.

Yeah, exactly.

So maybe it's filling seats for now, but what does this look like down the line?

>>A lot of people have their minds trained on this issue, and it's an important one for sure.

We should note we tape this program on Thursday morning so things can change by air time.

Meanwhile, be sure to join the conversation on social media we're at WUCFTV on Facebook X and also on Instagram.

Okay.

Next tonight, we wanted to talk a bit about our panelist's reporting on education and schools.

First, Alexa checked in earlier in February with the superintendent of Orange County Public Schools and talked about a range of issues, including absenteeism which spiked during the pandemic.

>>The latter half of the school year is well under way.

>>I appreciate the opportunity to share a little bit about where we are in second semester.

>>And we sat down one on one with Orange County Superintendent Dr. Maria Vasquez to get a read on student success.

>>We continue to focus on student engagement and ensuring that our students are coming to school.

>>At the start of the school year, officials hit the ground running, addressing excessive absenteeism.

Orange County Public Schools says a student is chronically absent if they've missed 21 days in a school year.

In the fall, we told you 27% of Orange County students met that benchmark in the 2021 2022 school year.

Fast forward a few months and Dr. Vasquez says they're seeing a reduction in absences.

>>Our schools really did a tremendous job of finding ways to make schools more meaningful and engaging with our students.

Additionally, we used guidance counselors and staff to go out and do home visits, make parents aware your child is missing school.

Sometimes you don't realize that, right?

>>And better attendance has led to progress.

Addressing the learning gap from the COVID 19 pandemic.

>>Progress monitoring data for the first semester came back.

Our elementary schools have seen some great increases.

Our secondary schools are struggling a little bit more.

And so that's an area where we are taking another look at the supports that are available so that we can see similar gains in our secondary schools.

>>Researchers at Harvard and Stanford analyzed recent test scores nationwide and found students have made up about a third of what they lost in math and about a quarter of what they lost in reading since the COVID shutdown.

Dr. Vasquez says for Orange County, it's a team effort from teachers to parents.

>>We need to work at it together so that our children do see success.

At the end of the year, when they're taking those final exams.

>>Alexa reporting there earlier this month.

Nice piece Alexa.

Let's talk a bit more about those solutions.

I mean, what steps does OCPS think have worked in the lower grades to get attendance up since the pandemic?

>>So they started sending guidance counselors and staff members to people's houses, to family members houses, and saying, Hey, Susie Q Missed a lot last year.

We got to get on this.

And the school year started with some of that data review.

They found that 27% of students missed more than 21 days of school, and that's chronic absenteeism.

So they really opened up the gates this year to start the school year and said, We've got to attack this and bring this number down.

It's still somewhat in the twenties.

She didn't have hard data, but lower twenties.

But that's still an improvement that, you know.

>>So they were sending people physically to people's houses.

>>Yes.

>>To see what's going on.

>>And just engaging with the parents.

Because she also said that sometimes the parent doesn't realize, oh, they had a headache last week.

Then two weeks passed and now their arm hurts and you're just, you're not letting them miss school but they do start racking up.

And so just saying, hey, look at this brings them into the class and classrooms have been a more meaningful environment she believes this year.

>>I mean, Vasquez was saying there the secondary schools, in order to be the secondary schools, continue to be a problem.

I mean, what's the extent of the problem in those grade levels and what kind of solutions are leaders looking for there?

Are they looking for other solutions?

>>Yeah, they're trying to figure out how they can get it, get everything moving forward when it comes to learning loss with those secondary schools.

Because you think during the pandemic they were in such formative years that they missed.

>>Absolutely.

>>At home.

So maybe school isn't a very welcoming or safe environment for them because they feel they're behind in math, they feel they're behind in English or science.

So they may have some sort of a struggle just going into school for acceptance.

>>Lawmakers took steps to try to address what, I guess, what we call a COVID slide.

Right.

I mean, I'm wondering whether chronic absenteeism remains higher in Florida than pre-pandemic.

And does that reflect what we're seeing in other parts of the country as well?

>>You know, it is coming down.

And I know that we just did a recent report just I think a couple of days ago over the last week, and there's 13 that.

Yes.

And if you compare it to years past, things are slowly coming down.

But still across the state, we're talking over a third of Florida students are considered chronically absent.

So they're still working on ways to kind of, like Alexa said, try to figure out how to combat this, how to get those students back to school.

And especially when you have those measures in place where, you know, there are certain thresholds that you have to hit when it comes to standardized tests and you're not there because you need to be there to kind of get the instruction you need to do well on those tests.

It can be a kind of a hinderance and sometimes even as to Alexa's point, you know, kids say, hey, you know, I may not feel confident enough to go to school, you know, because of, you know, for whatever reason, maybe you feel you're a little bit behind or you may not read as fast as someone else.

So there are some of those caveats.

>>Lots of caveats.

I wanted to pivot to your reporting, Erik, on on education.

You've been looking into sort of funding constraints as if all of the problems we've talked about aren't enough, it's also a funding crunch for schools.

What are districts telling you about about the sort of the cap, the cash situation?

>>Well, we had pay that we talked about earlier in the show.

But, you know, something that cannot be ignored is the maintenance of our schools.

And what we found let's talk about Marion County, for an example.

In Marion County, most of their schools are very old.

They have an elementary school that dates back to the 1800s.

They have not been able to fill 80%, 8-0% of their maintenance requests over the last few years because they do not have the money.

It amounts to $804 million.

Now, you may be saying, well, what about, you know, lottery funds?

What about the Department of Education?

They do not get any money for maintenance or improvements to existing schools from the state.

All of it comes from property taxes.

You know, we're talking about impact fees and stuff like that.

The money just isn't there, especially in Marion County.

>>And voters could make a big difference right this year on on this.

How so?

>>So in Marion, let's talk about Marion County and Orange County.

Marion County, the superintendent says enough is enough.

>>Help.

>>Yeah, exactly.

So they've proposed a half cent sales tax, which is going to the voters in November.

They have also very unpopular proposed an impact fee.

So you have two different issues on the ballot that are both going to go help schools in Marion County.

Excuse me, Orange County already has the half cent sales tax that is helping towards maintenance, but it's time for renewal.

And so they're going to be asking for the exact same thing in November.

And that might be really unpopular this year because Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings is going to be asking for his half cent sales tax for transportation.

Yes.

So the question is, do you want to pay more in taxes to help education and transportation?

So we'll see.

>>Some people might say with the economy, not an ideal time to be asking people for more money-- >>But it is needed.

We'll put up links to it, to your reporting and Alexa's reporting on our website as well.

You'll find much more on the stories you see on NewsNight online.

You can visit us at wucf.org/newsnight along the bottom of your screen.

But that is all the time we have for this week.

My thanks to Erik Sandoval, Alexa Lorenzo, Curtis McCloud.

Thank you guys, so much for coming in.

Really appreciate your time today.

We'll see you next Friday night at 8:30 here on WUCF.

From all of us here at NewsNight, take care and have a great week.