Florida state Sen. Tom Wright presents a check to Brevard County Public Schools officials that will go toward funding a commercial driver license training facility. (Brevard Public Schools via Facebook)
To help reduce the truck driver shortage in Florida, state Sen. Tom Wright presented a $3.8 million ceremonial check to an east-central school district to fund a new commercial driver license training facility.
Wright met with school officials Aug. 1 from both Brevard Public Schools and its adult and community education branch to celebrate the grant that he helped champion during the last Florida state legislative session.
Among those in attendance were Mark Rendell, school superintendent, along with board members. Brevard Public Schools is the 49th-largest district in the United States and the 10th biggest in Florida.
According to the school district, the CDL training facility will enable Brevard County residents to attain necessary skills to find employment and succeed in the trucking industry where there is great demand for drivers.
Wright
“Thanks to Sen. Wright, Brevard County will have a CDL program to help the many communities and businesses,” a district announcement noted.
The facility is scheduled to begin accepting students into the program when it opens next June.
Calling it a privilege to help the district obtain the state money, Wright noted there are 60,000 jobs across Florida that require a CDL.
According to May 2022 figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the latest available, Florida ranks third among states with the highest employment levels of heavy- and tractor-trailer truck drivers with 99,490, after California’s 186,140. Texas is first with 210,940.
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Statistics indicate that the average yearly wage for truck drivers in Florida was $49,690, in contrast to Nebraska’s $63,560, which ranked as the state paying truck drivers the highest yearly salary. However, Florida’s truck drivers generally are paid more — $51,210 annually — in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan areas.
This latest funding for Brevard Public Schools to support getting more truck drivers on the road is the latest in a series of actions Florida lawmakers have taken since last year to provide grants for CDL training.
In September 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis provided an $8.2 million grant to five state colleges in Florida to train at least 1,200 new truck drivers.
Earlier that year, DeSantis awarded $2.3 million in grants to fund rapid credentialing workforce and education programs that included providing CDL and logistics training.
