2 min read November 2023 — School District of Palm Beach County superintendent Michael Burke sat down with Invest: to discuss the long list of priorities made to ensure public schools remain competitive in South Florida’s educational environment, addressing learning loss and strategies to bring in more teachers.
What highlights and milestones have defined the school district in the past year?
Internally, we are going into year two of our strategic plan. We have a renewed focus on customer service and have launched a campaign called “Catch the Wave”. This is a very educationally-competitive environment between public and charter schools. With legislation recently passed, Florida now has universal vouchers. This means any family, regardless of their income, can get a voucher or scholarship to attend either public or private schools. It added another layer of competition. It’s important that everyone on our team at the School District of Palm Beach County understands the importance of attracting and retaining students and their families. Customer service is important – we do not take anything for granted, and we do not have a monopoly of education in Palm Beach County.
In Florida, we have very high stakes accountability. Our students are tested in state exams three times each year, and our school district is A-rated, but we are all graded on a scale from A through F. As a result of this accountability, there is a reluctance for teachers and principals to send kids out on field trips. They are so worried about preparing for a test that they have lost sight of the value of getting our students out in Palm Beach County. We have to take advantage of our cultural and scientific venues. We can’t assume they are doing this on their own during their weekends. This year, we have a district-sponsored program for field trips.
How have population shifts affected your work?
Over the last 11 years, our Hispanic student population became our largest group of students at 37%. It is predicted to continue growing. Our district is also about 28% white, 27% African American and 3% Asian. We are pretty well-balanced with a diverse mix. As our Hispanic population has grown, we have added 34 dual-language programs throughout the county. The denominator of that is that we have 182 schools, where 31 are dual-language Spanish and three are Haitian Creole. These schools are amazing – they teach a second language at full-immersion while celebrating the cultures of these groups.
How are you addressing the teacher shortage?
We have expanded our recruitment beyond the U.S. to Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and Spain. This has a limited reach, though. With the high cost of living in Palm Beach County, we are facilitating a “pathways to teaching” or “grow your own” program. With over 330 choice career programs in Palm Beach County Schools, a handful are dedicated to the teaching profession. We are beginning to recruit our students right out of high school. If they go to college for teaching, we sign them as soon as they start their program. With our internal workforce, we have many teaching assistants who have two-year degrees that may be interested in going back to get a four-year degree to become teachers. We are partnering with NSU and BloomBoard to remove obstacles and bridge that gap. It is hard to recruit with the high cost of living, so we are doing what we can to make the right partnerships.
How is the district addressing learning loss and educational gaps?
We are in our last school year of having federal ESSER funds to support us following the pandemic. Under those funds, we implemented an academic support plan where we allocated an additional 359 instructional positions into our schools to help address learning loss. Part of this has meant more robust summer school programming. Looking ahead, we are considering a contract with Khan Academy’s AI assistant that has teacher and student versions.
What is your outlook for Palm Beach County’s education system in the near term?
Our enrollment is up by 1,000 students this year despite new competition for vouchers. We will keep marketing and reminding people we are their best choice. Most private school seats are already occupied. About 75% of vouchers handed out this year were given to students already in private schools. We will have to be vigilant to remain that best choice. Public schools have a great advantage that I want to communicate to the community: we have facilities, schools, land, sports conferences and more. Land comes at a premium in Palm Beach County.
Students should have access to the complete educational experience and should be involved in clubs and activities. We can offer all of that. This is far greater than a small private school that may not have the same type of amenities. Additionally, all of our teachers are certified and each administrator must have an advanced degree in education. Private schools can hire anyone at almost any education level with limited experience. Our workforce is dedicated and well-trained to serve the students. We were able to achieve a salary settlement for teachers at a 7% recurring increase with a one-time 3% bonus. This is roughly double what we are typically able to do – this is the biggest one I have seen in my career. There is a mental health professional and resource officer in each school, as safety is top-of-mind for everyone. The right resources and team are in place. Going forward, I want to make sure we continue to offer programs students need to be successful once they graduate from our schools.
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