Considering Moving to FL

[tinkfan4ever]

Help all you Floridians

I'm considering moving to Florida. Preferably the Orlando area. I'm not sure where to start. I need to know about where the best schools are at for Jr. High and High School. I also am a teacher but don't know about the retirement system there, salary, benefits, when jobs are posted, etc. I saw the Celebration area and it was really neat. I will probably rent somewhere near the best schools so that we can get aquainted with the area and decided where and what to buy (home vs. condo). Any help would be greatly appreciated. My family sat down last night and agreed to give it a window of a year to two so we have lots of time to make good choices.

Thanks!!!
Tinkfan4ever

 

[TallyLassie]

I am not a teacher, but I am part of their retirement system. I believe that all counties belong to the Florida Retirement System, which is a great system, very solvent. Here is where you start as far as certification, etc.:

http://www.fldoe.org/educator/

myflorida.com has lots of information about Florida (official state web site).

 

[hmp2z]

I'm a teacher, and we're moving down there (September 16!). The salaries vary from county to county. You have to go to each county's website in order to see listed jobs, salary schedules, etc. Here are some links:
www.osceola.k12.fl.us
www.ocps.k12.fl.us
www.lake.k12.fl.us

Florida ranks each school, giving it a grade: A, B, C, etc. You can look online at the various schools, to see what grades each makes.
Cheers!
Heather W

 

[TheDisneyTraveler06]

Florida is a great place to live!

 

[diznygirl]

I live in Celebration and we like our schools. The K-8 school is an A, and the HS is a C - it just opened 2-3 years ago and had some start-up problems, but it's been getting better every year. I know a lot of people who are really happy there.

You might want to check the county rankings. I keep hearing that here in Osceola County we are at the bottom of the barrel state-wide.

There are lots of really nice residential areas around here - good luck with your search.

 

[tinkfan4ever]

Thanks for all the helpful info. Could anyone explain how the teacher's retirement system works? How many years do you have to teach, age (or is it a combo) in order to retire? I've read it's an average of the last 3 years is this correct?