They pay their teachers significantly less than other states. Especially after you factor in the cost of living (FL is not nearly as affordable as people in NY/CA think it is).
According to these sources, they're 4th lowest in teacher salaries despite being 36th lowest in COL:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/teacher-pay...
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/opportunity...
This results in public schools taking whatever they can get teacher-wise. Where I grew up (NJ) being a public school teacher was a respectable career that people would actually go to college and study for. It's not like that in FL. A lot of teachers are just people who couldn't find a job elsewhere and need to pay the bills.
