letter of advocacy

Felicia Sands

[Your Address]

[Your City/State/Zip]

[Insert Date]

Office of Governor Ron DeSantis.

State of Florida The Capitol 400 S.

Monroe St. Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Dear Governor Ron DeSantis

I am a constituent in the State of Florida and a third year student at the AS University. I am writing to support the increment of salaries for Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program (VPK) teachers. I have directly experienced the program’s benefits because my niece, a beneficiary, has demonstrated tremendous cognitive and academic skills since attending the program. She can recognize and organize numbers and alphabets while still writing her full names before joining kindergarten. Such a level of skills can only be attributed to Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program.

However, recent reports have indicated that the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program fails to attract a large population of early childhood education teachers. This has been attributed mainly to the fact that most of the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education (VPK) teachers are not adequately remunerated, which poses significant future risks to the program. A 2021 report by ZipRecruiter shows that VPK teachers’ salaries range between $14,000 to $37,000 annually. The data shows that a significant percentage of VPK teachers are earning less money in contrast to the needs of the current society. It is a common misconception that teachers work less time with extended holidays in a year. However, studies show that teachers spend additional hours in school after classes to grade and prep, even on weekends.

Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the compensation plans accorded to VPK teachers in the state of Florida. More the success and continuity of the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program (VPK) predominantly depend on the continuous inflow of teachers. As the Governor, I urge you to spearhead a committee that can evaluate the compensation of VPK teachers who are instrumental in providing children with the academic foundation they require.

Yours sincerely

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