In my brief time working as a charter school operations director, I was, in my early thirties, one of the oldest members of our staff. Although we could not attract teachers with the promise of higher pay than district schools, we generally hired younger, less experienced professionals who were drawn to our more intentional approaches to academics and student behavior.
In part because I attended a traditional public school as a child, where veteran educators formed the backbone of the teaching staff, I was initially skeptical that classrooms lacking the same professional experience could provide a reliable education for kids. Yet unlike my own school experience, where the quality of my classes was almost entirely dependent on who was teaching them, my charter school was laser-focused on the student experience. Teachers were frequently observed in their classrooms by academic leaders and regularly coached, both individually and in grade-level and subject-matter teams—all to ensure that, regardless of who was in front of the classroom, all students received high-quality instruction.
Although charter schools across the country face the challenge of hiring teachers with lower salaries, Florida, with its expansive charter sector and relatively low per-pupil funding, offers a particularly instructive window into how successful charters overcome their budgetary limitations. Within the 46 county-wide school districts that contain charters in the Sunshine State, the salaries of charter classroom teachers averaged around $51,000 in the 2024–25 school year, compared to over $57,000 for their district counterparts. Yet, among the schools that received a state report card grade that year, 77 percent of charters were A or B rated, compared to 70 percent of district schools, all while serving similar rates of low-income and minority students.
I spoke to the leaders of high performing Florida charter schools, all recent National Blue Ribbon awardees and current Florida Schools of Excellence. They revealed a cohesive strategy for hiring teachers that is as much about building culture as it is about candidates’ individual experiences. Their insight reflects that school leadership, as a seasoned educator once told me, is ultimately a “people business,” and that schools benefit when teachers eschew working behind closed doors but rather cultivate the same values, are willing to adapt, and are actively led toward a common goal.
Johna Giordano has worked at Hollywood Academy of Arts and Science, a Title I elementary and middle charter school near Fort Lauderdale, for a decade and became the school’s principal in 2019. “Experience means nothing,” Giordano told me when I asked her about hiring teachers. “You’ve got to hire good people before you hire for experience.” She held up three fingers to indicate the three qualities that matter most for teachers at HAAS: “must love kids, flexibility, and humility.” She treats the first as most important, adding: “I’m going to ask you to put kids at the forefront of everything that you do.” Once hired, teachers at HAAS are coached a lot. The campus, a combined elementary and middle school, sees between 700 and 1,000 observations a year, Giordano estimates.
That philosophy is echoed at Hive Preparatory, a K–8 charter school in Miami. “We need people willing to learn and not cut corners to achieve results, and professionals willing to work hard to improve in all facets,” answered principal Sergio Bonilla when asked about the traits he looks for in teacher candidates. “There is no perfect formula to find the right teacher. However, instincts and understanding what the person values is critical.”
