Learn more about the Florida Conference Office of Education before applying.
Teaching That Matters.
A Career That Lasts.
Everything you want to know about working in Florida Conference Adventist education, answered honestly.
Florida Conference Office of Education (FLCOE).
Say it like "flow-koh."
Welcome to the inner circle.
Salary and Compensation
The honest comparison most prospective FLCOE educators want first. We will not bury the gap, and we will not pretend the full picture is captured in the base salary line alone.
Florida Public Schools
- Ranked 50th of 50 states + D.C. for 3rd year
- Inflation-adjusted purchasing power -12.4% over the past decade
- Florida ranked 41st in per-student spending
- Saturday athletics, competitions, and functions are routine
FLCOE
- Mid-career classroom teacher typically $66,000 to $81,000
- Principal compensation $76,000 to $124,306, with about $88,000 average
- Salary tied to NAD index + credential tier + experience + ERI
- No routine Saturday school operations. Occasional ministry events may extend into Sabbath.
Here is the honest read. Florida public school teachers averaged $56,663 in 2025–26, and Florida ranked 50th nationally for the third year in a row according to the NEA's April 2026 report. Adjusted for inflation, Florida public teachers' purchasing power has fallen 12.4% over the past decade. Florida also ranks 41st nationally in per-student spending. Those are the conditions you are weighing FLCOE against when you compare Florida public schools with FLCOE.
FLCOE is a different comparison point. Starting teacher pay at the lowest ERI is $56,659. Mid-career classroom teachers typically land in the $66,000 to $81,000 range, and principal compensation runs $76,000 to $124,306, with roughly $88,000 as a reasonable average figure statewide. Pay is shaped by credential tier, experience, and ERI. The South Area carries a higher monthly ERI due to the higher cost of living.
Where a gap exists at the base salary line, FLCOE earns the comparison in the full compensation picture: an automatic 5% employer retirement contribution plus up to 3% match, NAD tuition subsidy for your children's Adventist education, the fact that routine Saturday school operations are not built into the role the way they often are in public school, smaller class sizes, and the 4TK collaborative network. We will show you each piece in the sections below.
Sources: NEA/FEA April 2026, Glassdoor. For exact position-specific figures, contact FLCOE HR.
Three things drive your placement on the salary scale: Adventist credential tier, verified years of denominational experience, and the ERI location adjustment. Florida Conference pays 100% of ERI, which is unusual in the NAD. That means a South Area placement carries a considerably higher monthly cost-of-living adjustment than a lower-cost region. Public school experience may be evaluated for credit toward placement on the scale. Bring transcripts and your service record when you talk with HR.
Yes. Three movers: step increases tied to years of experience, credential upgrades that move you up the salary scale percentage, and recognition for advanced degrees.
A Basic-to-Standard credential upgrade is a real raise, not a certificate change. The denominational pay structure is designed so that investing in your credential pays you back through scale placement, not just through a line item on your resume.
Principal compensation generally runs $76,000 to $124,306, with about $88,000 as a reasonable average figure statewide. South Area adjustments are significantly higher than lower-cost regions, so exact placement varies by assignment and ERI. Established classroom teacher compensation typically lands in the $66,000 to $81,000 range, while starting teacher pay at the lowest ERI is $56,659.
For current, position-specific pay details, contact FLCOE at (407) 644-5000 or info@flcoe.org.
Benefits Package
The benefits column is where the FLCOE compensation picture broadens. Read the retirement and tuition subsidy cards closely. They are where the real dollar value sits for an SDA educator with school-age children.
Health Coverage
Excellent medical coverage through Adventist Risk Management is available for employees working 30+ hours per week, with premiums processed through payroll deduction. Coverage options include medical, dental, and vision, with family coverage available when applicable. Flexible Spending Account options are also available. The plan also includes 50% reimbursement for massage therapy and chiropractic visits when provided by a licensed practitioner.
Retirement & TSA
Employer contributes 5% of the employee's salary, including ERI, and matches up to 3% of eligible voluntary contributions. Auto-enrollment at 3% voluntary increases 1% each July to a 7% maximum. Managed through Empower, with a Tax Sheltered Annuity also available through Empower.
Life Insurance
For employees working 38 hrs/week: $100,000 employee, $50,000 spouse, $10,000 per dependent child, $750 stillborn. Supplemental coverage up to $250,000 with no medical underwriting if applied within 30 days of hire. AFLAC products are also available as optional payroll-deduction supplemental protection benefits.
Leave & Holidays
Vacation: 2 weeks (yrs 0–4), 3 weeks (yrs 5–9), 4 weeks (yrs 9+). Sick leave accrued separately (60% short-term, 40% long-term). Eight recognized holidays. Schools follow the Adventist calendar, including Sabbath from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.
Tuition Subsidy for Your Children High-impact
NAD policy provides tuition subsidy for employees' children attending Adventist schools: approximately 35% for day schools (elementary through secondary) and up to 70% for boarding academies and Adventist colleges/universities (dormitory students).
35% subsidy = ~$2,888 saved per child per year.
Two children enrolled = ~$5,775/yr saved. Over a four-year stretch with two children, that is roughly $23,100 in benefit value that does not appear on a salary line.
Source: NAD Y 35 10 Tuition Assistance policy · EPAA tuition
Credit Union
AdventHealth Credit Union membership available to all conference employees.
The Health Care Assistance Plan through Adventist Risk Management is available to employees working 30 or more hours per week, with premiums processed as a payroll deduction. Coverage includes medical, dental, and vision, with family coverage available when applicable, along with Flexible Spending Account options. The plan also includes 50% reimbursement for massage therapy and chiropractic visits when provided by a licensed practitioner. Plan details and current options are at adventistrisk.org.
The employer contributes 5% of the employee's salary, including ERI to your retirement account automatically and also matches up to an additional 3% of eligible voluntary employee contributions. New employees are auto-enrolled at a 3% voluntary deduction, which increases 1% each July to a 7% maximum. Retirement is managed through Empower Retirement, and a Tax Sheltered Annuity is also available through Empower.
The key comparison point is clear: FLCOE adds a 5% employer contribution based on the employee's salary, including ERI, plus up to a 3% match as part of the total compensation picture. For assignment-specific dollar details, confirm the itemized breakdown directly with HR.
Source: Florida Conference Benefits.
For employees working 38 hours per week, the employer provides Basic Group Life Insurance:
- Employee: $100,000
- Spouse: $50,000
- Dependent child: $10,000 (stillborn $750)
Supplemental life insurance is available up to $250,000 for the employee and up to $30,000 for a spouse with no medical underwriting if applied within 30 days of hire. After the 30-day window, supplemental coverage requires medical information and approval. AFLAC products are also available as optional payroll-deduction supplemental protection benefits.
Vacation accrual scales with service: 2 weeks (years 0–4), 3 weeks (years 5–9), 4 weeks (years 9+). Sick leave is accrued separately, with 60% available for short-term illnesses and personal appointments, and 40% reserved for extended illness or disability.
Recognized holidays: New Year's Day, MLK Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
FLCOE schools also observe the Biblical Sabbath, with Sabbath being from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. That structural commitment is covered in depth in Section 6.
Yes, and for an SDA educator who already values Adventist education for their own children, this is one of the most concrete dollar-value benefits in the system. NAD policy provides tuition subsidy for employees' children attending Adventist schools:
- Approximately 35% for day schools (elementary through secondary)
- Up to 70% for boarding academies and Adventist colleges/universities (dormitory students)
Worked example. A representative FLCOE day school, East Pasco Adventist Academy, publishes K–8 tuition at $8,250 per year. A 35% subsidy is approximately $2,888 in savings per child per year. For an FLCOE educator with two children in an Adventist day school, that is roughly $5,775 per year in benefit that does not appear on the salary line. Over a four-year stretch with two children, that is around $23,100.
If your child later attends a boarding academy or an Adventist college, the subsidy increases substantially. The benefit is meaningful precisely because you were going to pay this tuition anyway.
Yes. AdventHealth Credit Union membership is available to all conference employees.
Professional Development and Credentialing
If you trained at an Adventist institution, you already have a head start. Here is how credentials transfer, what your continuing education looks like in the network, and how it affects your salary scale placement.
NAD Credential Tiers
Uncertified
Entry placeholder. Active work toward credentialing required.
Conditional
One-year credential. Required coursework each year.
Basic
Issued upon completing NAD-approved program or credit-based pathway.
Standard
Earned through additional coursework, experience, and renewal cycles.
Professional
Top tier. Advanced degree and sustained experience. Highest scale placement.
Each tier upgrade maps directly to a higher percentage of the conference base salary scale.
FLCOE schools operate as private, accredited religious schools. Florida state certification is valued and useful, but it is not required in the same way it is for Florida public school employment. The primary professional credential system is NAD denominational credentialing issued through the union conference.
If you trained at Andrews University, Southern Adventist University, Oakwood, or another Adventist institution, you almost certainly have a head start on the denominational credentialing requirements. Bring your transcripts and any existing credentials to your HR conversation.
The NAD operates a tiered credential system: Uncertified, Conditional, Basic, Standard, and Professional. Credentials are issued through the union conference (Southern Union / Florida Conference) and are tied to education level, coursework, and years of experience. Credential level directly impacts salary scale placement.
For an SDA educator returning from public school, prior experience and existing credentials are evaluated when you apply. The path from public school teaching back into the denominational system is well-trodden. The authoritative current reference is the NAD PK-12 Educators' Certification Manual.
You are entering a deep PD ecosystem. The major resources:
- Adventist Learning Community (ALC): free professional development courses and a digital library of over 12,000 free resources. adventistlearningcommunity.com
- Andrews University professional development courses and Bible Challenge Exams
- Southern Adventist University MAT and MSED graduate programs
- TeachMe Online and the Teaching Channel / Learners Edge platforms
- NAD Professional Growth Books published annually
- FLCOE in-service days and network-level PD events
- 4TK collaboratives (covered in Section 5)
- Career Enrichment / Professional Growth Allowance: availability and amounts vary by school. Confirm with FLCOE HR or the principal of the school you are considering.
Yes. Multiple pathways exist through the ALC, Andrews University, Southern Adventist University, and university partnerships. Frame continuing education as a compensation investment, not a checkbox. Credential upgrades drive salary scale placement upward, so the hours you put into PD return measurable dollar value over a career.
4TK · 4 The Kids
4TK is FLCOE's network-wide collaborative professional development program, built around a straightforward conviction: SDA educators are too good at what they do to be doing it alone. Launched four years ago, 4TK brings teachers across all 38 FLCOE schools together in structured collaboratives grouped by subject area, grade level, and area of passion. Every group is designed around your students, your strengths, and your needs. Every session is led by a collaborative leader who volunteers their time, not for extra pay, but because they believe this is worth it.
Teacher Self-Care
Teaching is demanding. 4TK treats your sustainability as a professional as a program priority, not an afterthought. Sessions include structured space for reflection, rest, and resetting, because a depleted teacher cannot develop students.
Common Planning Time
Curriculum planning in isolation produces inconsistency. 4TK dedicates protected time for teachers across the network to plan together, aligning instruction, sharing what works, and building unit-level coherence that individual schools cannot produce alone.
Elevating Student Outcomes
Every collaborative decision comes back to one question: does this improve what students experience in the classroom? 4TK uses student data, teacher observation, and peer reflection to drive practical, classroom-ready improvements.
Collaboration Across FLCOE
In a network of 38 schools, your best colleague might not be in your building. 4TK connects teachers across campuses, cities, and grade levels, so the third-grade teacher in Daytona Beach and the third-grade teacher in Miami are refining their craft together.
All FLCOE network teachers. Groups are designed by subject, grade level, and area of passion, not by school or geography. You are matched to a collaborative built for your role.
Sessions are held virtually across the school year. Participants join on camera, not because attendance is tracked, but because your presence is part of what makes the collaborative function. Every session closes with an exit ticket. FLCOE leadership reads every response. Those answers shape what the program does next.
Experienced teachers from within the FLCOE network who volunteer to facilitate. The commitment is built entirely on professional conviction. If you are looking for a place to grow into instructional leadership, becoming a 4TK collaborative leader is one of the most direct paths available within the network.
Peer collaboration exists in most Florida public schools, often through PLCs and grade-level teams, and many public school teachers invest in it genuinely. What is different in FLCOE is the scale and the design: 4TK pulls teachers across 38 schools into collaboratives matched by subject, grade, and area of passion, not by building or district mandate. For an SDA educator returning to denominational work, it is often the piece of FLCOE employment that surprises them most. Not because public school collaboration was empty, but because cross-network collaboration at this scale is rare anywhere.
What Makes FLCOE Different From Public Education
You already understand what Adventist education is. This section is the honest comparison an experienced educator actually makes when weighing the move. Tradeoffs included.
Saturday is not treated like a normal workday.
FLCOE schools do not run routine Saturday operations, and Sabbath is not treated like a normal workday. For an SDA educator coming from many Florida public school settings, that is still a meaningful difference. Saturday athletics, competitions, and standard school functions are not built into the role in the same way.
At the same time, Adventist school life can include ministry-centered moments that touch Sabbath, such as student music in church, school-related worship programs, or mission travel that crosses a Sabbath period.
The distinction is not that Sabbath is always event-free. It is that routine Saturday school operations are not the standing expectation.
FLCOE knows. The most common reason SDA educators end up in public school is not disinterest in denominational work. It is that the path in was not visible, the salary comparison felt unfavorable at first glance, or the hiring process felt less straightforward than a public school district posting.
This page exists to close that information gap. If you have questions that are not answered here, the FLCOE Office of Education wants to hear from you directly. Jump to the contact section.
Average Adventist elementary school enrollment is significantly smaller than the typical Florida public school. FLCOE schools range from small single-teacher campuses to multi-grade schools to larger K–12 academies. Smaller enrollment means more direct teacher-student relationships, deeper knowledge of individual students, and greater curriculum autonomy than most Florida public school classrooms allow.
Multi-grade teaching is common in smaller schools. Frame it as a different and often more engaging instructional challenge, not a burden. For an experienced teacher, multi-grade work develops differentiation skill at a level the standard public school classroom rarely demands.
FLCOE schools are small communities. Teachers typically have direct access to their principal, less bureaucratic overhead, and more direct input into school decisions than in large public districts. You will be known by name, not by employee number, and your input will be heard at the table where decisions are made.
The honest tradeoff: fewer union protections and a more relationship-dependent work culture. In a system this small, your reputation, your principal, and your school board matter more than they do in a 4,000-employee district. That works strongly in the favor of a good educator and is a real consideration for any educator weighing the move.
It is. Florida ranked 50th nationally in average teacher pay for the third consecutive year in 2025–26 per the NEA April 2026 report. Adjusted for inflation, Florida public teachers' purchasing power has fallen 12.4% over the past decade. Florida also ranks 41st nationally in per-student spending.
FLCOE is not pretending to be the higher-base-salary option statewide. FLCOE is the alternative environment: mission alignment, professional sustainability, and practical differences around Sabbath rhythm, smaller scale, and peer collaboration through 4TK that the current Florida public school employment environment cannot provide. Read the data. Draw your own conclusion.
Source: FEA/NEA April 2026 data.
Two data sources worth knowing:
- NAD MAP Growth results consistently show Adventist students outperforming national norms in reading and math. Current published results are maintained at adventisteducation.org.
- The 2025 AACU and NAD alumni study showed Adventist college graduates demonstrating significantly stronger faith formation and whole-person development outcomes than Adventist students who attended non-Adventist institutions. Coverage in Southern Tidings.
This data exists to confirm what you already know experientially. You watched it work in your own life. The numbers are corroboration, not argument.
Advancement and Career Paths
A 38-school network produces real, recurring leadership openings. Here is what the typical FLCOE career trajectory looks like, and the lateral track most teachers do not realize is available.
Classroom to Instructional Leader
Department lead, master teacher, or curriculum specialist roles. 4TK collaborative leadership is a direct entry point.
Teacher to Assistant Principal to Principal
The conference actively develops teachers into school leaders through supervised administrative experience and graduate-level preparation. Accessible, not a decades-long climb.
Principal to Conference Administration
Superintendents, associate superintendents, and subject-area specialists are drawn from the principal pool. Current FLCOE leadership came up through the school network.
4TK Collaborative Leadership
Not a promotion in title, but meaningful in scope. Develop facilitation, curriculum design, and network-level influence that translate directly into administrative readiness.
Four tracks, visualized in the cards above. Track One is the classroom-to-instructional-leader path, with 4TK collaborative leadership as one of the most direct on-ramps. Track Two is the teacher-to-AP-to-principal path, which the conference actively develops people into through supervised administrative experience and graduate preparation. Track Three is principal-to-conference-administration: superintendents, associate superintendents, and subject-area specialists. Track Four is the lateral 4TK collaborative leadership path, which builds network-level influence and administrative readiness without requiring a title change.
Across all four tracks, the operative reality is the same: a 38-school network produces a steady, regular flow of openings. The career trajectory is not theoretical.
Yes. NAD credentials are recognized across all North American Division conferences. An educator credentialed through the Florida Conference can transfer that standing to another NAD conference. The network of more than 1,000 NAD schools in North America creates genuine geographic portability for your career. The credential travels with you.
Generally, principals are drawn from experienced teachers with 7 to 10 years of classroom experience, often holding a master's degree in educational leadership or administration. In a 38-school network, principal openings occur with regularity. The opportunity is concrete and recurring, not theoretical.
How to Apply
Four steps. None of them is long, and the second one moves the conversation furthest, fastest.
Browse Open Positions
See current educator openings across all 38 schools at the FLCOE careers portal. Open the live job board.
Prepare Your Credential Materials
Gather transcripts, current credentials, and service records. Reference the NAD PK-12 Certification Manual for denominational requirements.
Talk to an Associate Superintendent
Schedule a conversation with an FLCOE associate superintendent in the region you want to serve. FLCOE can connect you to the right school based on subject, grade level, and geography.
Disclaimer: Salary figures are informed by the NAD salary scale, the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists, along with publicly available third-party estimates including Salary.com and Glassdoor. Contact the FLCOE Office of Education for current and position-specific compensation information.