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Florida teacher vacancies are down 13%, state says. Teachers union says there are still 5,000 unfilled jobs

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Florida teacher vacancies are down 13%, state says. Teachers union says there are still 5,000 unfilled jobs


JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Department of Education (FDOE) and the state’s largest teachers union are at odds over the framing of teacher vacancies in public schools.

The Florida Department of Education announced Monday that teacher vacancies for the 2024-2025 school year are 13.3% lower than first-day vacancies for the 2023-2024 school year. Schools have reported 1.11 teacher vacancies per school, lower than last year’s average of 1.28 vacancies per school, according to the FDOE. This year’s 13.3% drop in vacancies follows last year’s drop of over 8% in comparison to the previous year.

RELATED | Pay, hours, and politics: Stakeholders describe reasons behind Florida’s teacher shortage

“Florida has raised teacher pay, supported teachers in the classroom and created new pathways for qualified individuals to enter the teaching profession,” Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz, Jr. said in a news release. “While the naysayers use the same tactics year after year to discredit Florida’s success in Education, once again the numbers speak for themselves. I am proud that Florida’s teacher vacancies continue to decline and I am confident that this is a direct result of the forward-thinking policies that Governor Ron DeSantis has championed.”

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The Florida Education Association (FEA), the state’s largest association of professional employees with 120,000 union members, has a different take.

Last week, the FEA released its latest data on teacher vacancies and found that at the start of a new school year, nearly every district in the state is advertising unfilled positions in elementary education, ESE and speech language pathology with no significant improvement in the vacancies for education staff professionals (ESPs).

“When Governor DeSantis and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. pat themselves on the back because they have funded corporate-run schools and micro schools in strip malls, they are doing so at the expense of students in Florida’s public schools by literally siphoning billions each year away from public schools. Make no mistake — this is on purpose,” said Andrew Spar, President of the Florida Education Association.

FEA said its data shows that there are currently 5,007 instructional vacancies, a jump from numbers reported in January of this year, but a decrease from the number reported in August 2023.

“Students across the state are feeling the weight of increased class sizes and not enough teachers or support professionals,” FEA said in a news release.

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In an apparent shot at FEA’s teacher data, the FDOE said its vacancy data is reported to the department directly from school districts, “contrary to other sources which have attempted to use inaccurate data to report inflated teacher vacancy data.”

FEA said it counts vacancies posted on district websites twice annually, in August and January. (A county-by-county breakdown of the FEA vacancy numbers can be found here)

Diaz said the decrease in teacher vacancy numbers is a direct result of Gov. DeSantis’ commitment to supporting teachers, with more than $4.6 billion invested in teacher pay increases since 2019.

MORE | $1.25 billion in upcoming state budget will go toward teacher raises, Gov. DeSantis says

But FEA is calling for even more funding — $2.5 billion a year for the next seven years.

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FEA said the increase will help address “inadequate salaries so Florida’s teachers are in the top 10 in average pay.”

Copyright 2024 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.



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Severe storms, near-record heat: Big weather swings ahead for South Florida

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Severe storms, near-record heat: Big weather swings ahead for South Florida


From tornado threats in the Central U.S. to a surge of unseasonable warmth in South Florida, meteorologist Dave Warren breaks down the week’s weather changes. Expect near-record high temperatures by Thursday, followed by a slight cool-down and a chance for scattered showers. Track all the latest with NEXT Weather.



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Our leaders look to the past, but it's not a pretty picture

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Our leaders look to the past, but it's not a pretty picture


Tired of Black people thinking their lives matter? Sick of hearing Spanish every time you’re in a Miami restaurant? Annoyed by uppity women asserting their so-called rights, gay types flaunting themselves by getting married and taking out mortgages, unwashed tree-huggers trying to stop righteous sprawl, and Marxist high school teachers making kids study pornographic Shakespeare […]



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Hollywood stars shine in Naples, Fort Myers: Movies shot in SW Florida

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Hollywood stars shine in Naples, Fort Myers: Movies shot in SW Florida


Zombies shuffle through downtown Fort Myers. A group of kids fight to save Cape Coral’s burrowing owls. Dakota Fanning kisses a boy on a Captiva Island beach.

And the cameras are rolling to capture it all.

Film crews have visited Southwest Florida many times over the years, and so have some of Hollywood’s biggest stars: Denzel Washington. Jayne Mansfield. Reese Witherspoon. Sean Connery. Drew Barrymore. Joe Pesci. Jessica Lange. Woody Harrelson. And many more.

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To celebrate the upcoming Academy Awards on March 15, we’re taking a look at some of the biggest movies shot over the last seven decades in Fort Myers, Naples and other parts of Southwest Florida. One of them even won an Oscar for Best Actor (Jessica Lange in “Blue Sky”).

‘NIGHT MOVES’ (starring Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Edward Binns and Melanie Griffith)

The film: Film noir about a Los Angeles private investigator (Gene Hackman) hired to find a client’s runaway daughter. His search takes him to the Florida Keys.

Year released: 1975

Director: Arthur Penn

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Production: Some scenes were shot on Sanibel Island. The rest were filmed in California and Wakulla Springs, Florida. “Night Moves” was directed by Arthur Penn, who also directed the movie classics “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Little Big Man,” “The Miracle Worker” and “Alice’s Restaurant.”

Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%

Sample review: “‘Night Moves’ is one of the best psychological thrillers in a long time, probably since ‘Don’t Look Now’ … If you like private eyes, find it.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

‘BLUE SKY’ (starring Tommy Lee Jones, Jessica Lange and Powers Boothe)

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The film: Drama about a nuclear cover-up involving a U.S. Army nuclear engineer (Tommy Lee Jones) and his wife (Jessica Lange). 

Year released: 1994

Director: Tony Richardson

Production: Some scenes were shot in Fort Myers and North Captiva Island. Lange won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role. The film was finished in 1991, just before the death of its director.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%

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Sample review: “What makes it feel like a Hollywood film from another era is its belief that character can drive a movie; that there is nothing more fascinating than the complexities of the human heart.” — David Ansen, Newsweek

‘WIND ACROSS THE EVERGLADES’ (starring Christopher Plummer, Burl Ives, Gypsy Rose Lee and Peter Falk)

The film: Christopher Plummer plays a crusading Audubon Society agent who takes on bird poachers in the Florida Everglades. The bad guys want the birds’ feathers for women’s hats.

Year released: 1958

Director: Nicholas Ray

Production: Filming took place in the town of Chokoloskee, just south of Everglades City. The movie marked the big-screen debut of actor Peter Falk.

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“Wind Across the Everglades” was written and produced by brothers Budd and Stuart Schulberg. Budd Schulberg is best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplay for the classic 1954 drama “On The Waterfront.” Director Nicholas Ray is best known for the 1955 James Dean classic, “Rebel Without A Cause.”

Rotten Tomatoes score: 55%

Sample review: “Canada’s Christopher Plummer is suitably heroic and rock-jawed in this lively but chaotic action drama. He’s a dedicated conservationist who invades the Florida swamps and tries to stop red-bearded Burl Ives from slaughtering the wild birds.” — Clyde Gilmour, Maclean’s Movies

Read more: Christopher Plummer’s early film fame came in the Everglades in Collier County                                                                                   

‘THE FAT SPY’ (starring Phyllis Diller, Jack E. Leonard, Brian Donlevy and Jayne Mansfield)

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The film: “The Fat Spy’s” over-stuffed, head-scratching story spoofs the 1965 beach-party movie “Beach Blanket Bingo.” A group of teenagers search for buried treasure on a (mostly) deserted island — that is, when they’re not dancing and singing to knock-off rock songs like “Do the Turtle.”

Meanwhile, the island’s owner enlists his daughter and her rose-loving romantic interest to stop the teens. And the owner’s twin brother and the villainous Camille Salamander search everywhere for the long-lost Fountain of Youth.

Year released: 1966

Director: Joseph Cates

Production: The movie was shot in Cape Coral in 1965 as a publicity stunt orchestrated by Cape Coral developers Gulf American Land Corp. That’s why the city’s name is mentioned often in the film and why scenes are shot at tourist-friendly spots like the Cape Coral Yacht Club, the beach, the Iwo Jima memorial and former tourist attraction Cape Coral Gardens, including shots of its rose garden, fountains and popular porpoise show.

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“The Fat Spy” was one of Mansfield’s last roles. She would die in a car crash in 1967.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 23%

Sample review: “As a film reviewer, I get to see an awful lot of movies — not to mention a lot of awful movies. However, every now and then, it is possible to come across a film that goes beyond just being bad. … The 1966 feature ‘The Fat Spy’ falls into that unique category.” — Phil Hall, Film Threat

Read more: ‘The Fat Spy’ and the year Hollywood came to Southwest Florida

‘OUT OF TIME’ (Denzel Washington, Eva Mendes and Sanaa Lathan)

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The film: In this crime thriller, the police chief (Denzel Washington) of fictional Florida town Banyan Key begins an affair with a married woman who says she has terminal cancer. To pay for her treatment, he steals money confiscated in a drug bust. But then the woman and her abusive husband die in a suspicious fire, the money disappears and the chief is the prime suspect.

Year released: 2003

Director: Carl Franklin

Production: Multiple Florida locations were used to create the fictional town of Banyan Key, including Boca Grande. The opening five minutes of the film were shot in downtown Boca, where dozens of local extras showed up for filming in 2002. 

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 64%

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Sample review: “It’s all very ‘Body Heat,’ which is to say, we’ve seen it all before. … ‘Out of Time’ (is) a well-performed, perfectly watchable thriller that’s nonetheless as generic as its title.” — Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times

‘HOOT’ (starring Luke Wilson, Brie Larson, Tim Blake Nelson and Logan Lerman)

The film: A group of kids try to save a burrowing-owl habitat from bad-guy developers building a pancake restaurant. The comedy is based on Carl Hiaasen’s novel of the same name. It’s set in Coconut Cove, a fictional town based on Cape Coral — a city famous for its burrowing owls.

Year released: 2006

Director: Wil Shriner

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Production: “Hoot” was filmed mainly on Florida’s east coast, including Fort Lauderdale, but parts were shot in Lee County’s Boca Grande and Gasparilla Island.

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 26%

Sample review: “While the novel is drenched in Hiaasen’s wit, sense of adventure and aggressive environmentalism, the film emerges as a vanilla comedy, only slightly more interesting than most.” — Toddy Burton, The Austin Chronicle

‘DAY OF THE DEAD’ (starring Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato and Jarlath Conroy)

The film: With this horror classic, director George A. Romero completed the zombie trilogy that started with 1968’s “Night of the Living Dead.” The story follows a group of scientists and soldiers hiding in a Florida bunker as they try to solve the zombie outbreak that’s taken over the world above.

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Year released: 1985

Director: George A. Romero

Production: Most of the underground filming took place in a limestone mine in Wampum, Pennsylvania. But above-ground scenes were shot in downtown Fort Myers, and the bunker’s elevator-platform entrance was built in a Sanibel Island field.

Downtown Fort Myers doubled as the city of the dead. The movie’s opening scene sees local extras, dressed as zombies, pouring out of Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center and shambling along the River District’s streets.

That scene helped inspire the now defunct Zombicon festival, where people dressed up as zombies every year and recreated the scene for the annual “zombie walk.” The festival ended after a fatal shooting in 2015.

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Rotten Tomatoes score: 81%

Sample review: “It’s an intelligent, well-written, excellently played movie, with top flight gore/horror effects, perverse humor and a provocatively bleak vision. … An inventive gore-fest, and one of the best horror movies of the eighties.” — Kim Newman, Empire

‘SWEET HOME ALABAMA’ (starring Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, Patrick Dempsey, Candice Bergen, Fred Ward, Dakota Fanning and Thomas Curtis)

The film: Romantic comedy about a New York fashion designer (Reese Witherspoon) who returns to Alabama to get a divorce after six years of separation.

Year released: 2002

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Director: Andy Tennant

Production: Some scenes were shot at South Seas Island Resort and its nearby beach. The filming involved actors Dakota Fanning, 7, and Thomas Curtis, 9, kissing and playing younger versions of Reese Witherspoon and Josh Lucas. Another scene shows Witherspoon and Lucas also kissing.

The scenes were originally supposed to be shot in Georgia, but the weather was too cold there. Most of the film was shot in New York and Georgia.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 38%

Sample review: “With its overlong running time and egregiously sluggish pace, ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ comes off as a sporadically amusing yet entirely ineffective romantic comedy that ultimately squanders an expectedly charismatic turn from star Reese Witherspoon.” — Dave Nusair, Reel Film Reviews

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‘COUPE DE VILLE’ (starring Patrick Dempsey, Daniel Stern, Arye Gross, Annabeth Gish)

The film: In this comedy-drama, three bickering brothers drive a 1954 Cadillac from Detroit to Florida to deliver the car for their mother’s birthday.

Year released: 1990

Director: Joe Roth

Production: Some scenes from “Coupe de Ville” were shot in Cape Coral and Fort Myers.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 0%

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Sample review: “There is something deadening about the kind of formula picture where you know with absolute certainty what is going to happen, and how, and why. And ‘Coupe de Ville’ is composed of so many formulas that they must have a template for it in screenwriting school.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

‘PALMETTO’ (starring Woody Harrelson, Elisabeth Shue and Gina Gershon)

The film: An ex-convict (Woody Harrelson) gets entangled in a fake kidnapping scheme that goes horribly wrong. Based on the James Hadley Chase novel “Just Another Sucker.”

Year released: 1998

Director: Volker Schlöndorff

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Production: Some scenes were shot in downtown Fort Myers with Woody Harrelson. Others were shot in Charlotte County, Palmetto and Sarasota, Florida.

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 39%

Sample review: “Another film noir chump meets blond poison in the Florida-set ‘Palmetto.’ … Director Volker Schlondorff brings scant dramatic urgency to a potentially nifty dissection of a badly botched felony.” — Mike Clark, USA Today

“GONE FISHIN’” (starring Danny Glover, Joe Pesci and Rosanna Arquette)

The film: Two New Jersey buddies go fishing in Florida in this wacky Disney comedy. They’re soon involved in a string of mishaps involving a stolen boat and car, hurricanes and more.

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Year released: 1997

Director: Christopher Cain

Production: “Gone Fishin’” was filmed throughout Southwest Florida, including Fort Myers, Estero, Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Big Cypress Swamp and Everglades National Park.

A stuntwoman died during filming when a boat lost control and hit her boat near Goodland Bay. Her husband and other people on the set also had minor injuries.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 4%

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Sample review: “The mis-pegged comedy/adventure — there is a dearth of both — inexplicably boasts a first-rate cast. But the plot and dialogue are third-rate.” — Nick Charles, New York Daily News

‘JUST CAUSE’ (starring Sean Connery, Blair Underwood, Laurence Fishburne, Ed Harris and Kate Capshaw)

The film: In this crime thriller, a Harvard professor and former lawyer (Sean Connery) investigates a 25-year-old case involving a black man (Blair Underwood) convicted for the horrific murder of an 11-year-old girl. It’s set in Ochopee.

Year released: 1995

Director: Arne Glimcher

Production: “Just Cause” was filmed on location in Fort Myers, Bonita Springs and Collier County. 

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Rotten Tomatoes score: 26%

Sample review: “Despite its tendency to tread well-traveled roads, ‘Just Cause’ is filmed with enough energy and craft that, for the majority of its one-hundred minute running time, it’s reasonably entertaining.” — James Berardinelli, ReelViews

MORE MOVIES WITH SWFL CONNECTIONS: ‘Adaptation,’ ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’

These movies prominently feature Southwest Florida, but they weren’t actually shot here:

  • “Terror Inside” (2008): Corey Feldman and Tanya Memme star in this independent film shot in Orlando but with some scenes set in Fort Myers and Cape Coral.  It was written and directed by Cape Coral resident Joe Lenders.
  • “Adaptation” (2002): This loose adaptation of Susan Orlean’s non-fiction book features scenes set in Florida, including Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. But the movie actually was filmed in Los Angeles. It stars Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep.
  • “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” (1994): The Jim Carrey comedy features a scene set in Collier County — including a billboard that says “Welcome to Collier County” — but the movie was actually shot in the Miami area, according to online movie database IMDb.

Connect with this reporter: Call 239-335-0368 or email crunnells@gannett.com. Or connect on social media at Charles Runnells (Facebook), @charlesrunnells (Twitter) and @crunnells1 (Instagram).



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