The Florida Department of Education would be required to determine the annual cost of teacher attrition and its effect on student achievement, and some districts would have to submit plans for improving attrition rates, under a bill filed by state Rep. Marty Kiar, D-Davie.

HB 355 would also require that Florida parents be informed of their school's turnover rate. And it would set up a new state program, the Florida Teacher Induction Initiative, to offer more support to new teachers.

"When you constantly have different teachers coming in, it affects education," said Kiar, the Democrats' point man on education issues in the House. "I think we have a crisis in retaining our teachers. I know they don't make ends meet."

Some national estimates say that 50 percent of new teachers leave the profession within five years. One study put the annual cost at $7 billion a year.

Under the bill, districts that don't show improvement in the retention of new teachers in D and F schools would have to submit improvement plans to the state. It's not clear from the bill if "retention" includes teachers transferring from one school to another, something that plagues many high-poverty schools.

Ron Matus, State Education Reporter

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