John Thrasher on teachers: ‘Damn it, they need to be paid more’
Image via The Associated Press

john thrasher ap
He spoke Wednesday at the Flagler Tiger Bay Club.

Former Florida State University President John Thrasher has a message for Florida’s school districts and the taxpayers who fund them: It’s time to up compensation packages to fix the state’s teacher retention and shortage problem.

He spoke Wednesday at the Flagler Tiger Bay Club, where Jill Woolbright, a Flagler County School Board member, asked him what School Board members should do to keep and recruit teachers.

“It’s hard — same thing’s happening in colleges of education, (enrollment is) falling off,” Thrasher said. “Probably a lot because of some of the controversy and turmoil now (in education). You know what? Pay them more. Damn it, they need to be paid more.”

He acknowledged work done on the issue by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature but said it’s not enough.

“For a single person, even a married person who’s got another spouse working, it’s not enough to live,” Thrasher said. “They deserve more.”

On the student loan and public policy front, he said Florida’s public universities’ tuition staying at $6,300 for 30 credit hours for the past decade or so, has been key in making sure three-quarters of the state’s public university graduates do so without student loan debt.

“It’s the second-lowest in the country, next to Wyoming,” Thrasher said. “So, that’s one of the reasons we don’t have a lot of student debt. … Having said that, let’s be specific about student debt for a minute. Another fact that I think you should remember, 75% of Florida public university students have no student debt when they graduate — 75%.

“I’ll repeat that — that’s amazing. It’s largely because they did it in 2013. We had a Board and a Governor at the time who didn’t want to raise tuition. They thought it was an unfair thing to do, to put more burden on the backs of families and students.”

For the rest of those who may have entered college with widely varying levels of financial knowledge necessary to navigate the student loan program before 2013, the news from Thrasher isn’t as positive.

“I know there’s a lot of debate about student debt, I know there’s going to be a lot of debate about whether or not the federal government decides to offer some assistance in that area,” Thrasher said.

“That’s for you guys to debate individually — I’ll leave it to that. I think it’s wrong, personally. I really do. I don’t think we ought to be subsidizing students who understood what they were doing, families, at the expense of other things that we need in this great country.”

Wes Wolfe

Wes Wolfe is a reporter who's worked for newspapers across the South, winning press association awards for his work in Georgia and the Carolinas. He lives in Jacksonville and previously covered state politics, environmental issues and courts for the News-Leader in Fernandina Beach. You can reach Wes at [email protected] and @WesWolfeFP. Facebook: facebook.com/wes.wolfe


4 comments

  • Charlotte Greenbarg

    May 20, 2022 at 10:12 am

    Maybe this is why they’re not paying teachers more?

    https://spotonflorida.com/southeast-florida/3794991/superintendents-wife-is-hired-by-miami-dade.html

    Superintendent’s wife is hired by Miami-Dade School Board in six-figure position
    19-05-2022 11:14 PM
    The Miami Dade School Board Wednesday approved a slew of administrative and high-ranking roles within the district, including two new officers and a six-figure administrative position for Superintendent Jose Dotres’ …

  • Ron Ogden

    May 20, 2022 at 1:46 pm

    “You know what? Pay them more. Damn it, they need to be paid more.”
    Talking about police and firefighters, right? No? Why don’t they need to be paid more? How about the folks that keep the water plant running? What happens if they go out on strike? The sewer folks? Why is it always the teachers? Loud union? Maybe.

    • Sharon Stanford

      May 22, 2022 at 11:08 pm

      Logical fallacies do not make your point, they just show your inability to correctly use logic.

  • Tom

    May 20, 2022 at 3:24 pm

    They’ve received two raises and bonuses per America’s Gov and legislature.

    Total moronic comments. What did he do about it when he was in govt., spare me blow hard.
    Get your mouth shut.

Comments are closed.


#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories