Amendment 9 offers more jobs

Recently, one hidden benefit of Florida voters passing Amendment 9 appeared. For USF’s education majors, it opened up many new job opportunities within the state.

It will take a lot of money to put the class size amendment into effect, thus Floridians can expect budget cuts from many programs. However, reducing class sizes also means that more classes will be taught, which results in a need for new teachers. Florida has needed to hire more teachers for years because of the overcrowding in schools, and now the class size amendment will prompt the state to do just that.

The Board of Education estimates that the state will need to hire 20,000 teachers before the next school year. This is partly a result of Florida voters passing Amendment 9 but is also a result of Florida’s growing population and the amount of teachers who are retiring or transferring to other states.

USF’s 2002-2003 catalog says USF’s College of Education is “the largest urban education college in the country” and “nearly 100 percent of the college’s graduates remain in the state.”

Though education majors pay more for their degree because of tuition increases, they are almost guaranteed a teaching job upon graduation.

Further, for any students who are interested in teaching but aren’t majoring in education, Florida has an alternative certification program. It allows anyone interested in teaching to begin working, as long as they have a bachelor’s degree. Then, he or she is given two to five years to earn his or her certification. Some counties even pay for any additional education needed to earn the certification.

Any graduating students should take the opportunity to get a job in the education system now. With all the job openings August, this is the best chance they’ll have to get hired. Because of the economy’s situation, some graduates may find it difficult to find jobs. But the need for teachers, at least, creates job opportunities in education.