A strategic partnership with Kelly Education helped one of Florida's largest districts turn a staffing crisis into a model for resilience.
The School District of Lee County serves approximately 100,000 students across 118 schools in Southwest Florida, with nearly 75% qualifying as economically disadvantaged. It's the 27th largest district in the nation. In spring 2025, it was also staring down 575 advertised teacher vacancies ahead of the new school year.
That number became the catalyst for everything that followed.
Challenge
With 575 open teaching positions and a national shortage making hiring harder than ever, Lee County faced the real possibility that thousands of students would start the school year without a certified teacher in the classroom.
Solution
Lee County partnered with Kelly Education to identify and deploy certified guest teachers, launch an intern-to-teacher bridge, and give principals direct access to a master certified list of credentialed talent — all under the district's Project Believe initiative.
Result
Zero vacancies on the first day of school, fulfilled by full-time teachers and Kelly Education certified guest teachers. The district cut vacancies by 81% year over year across its 69 buildings, a marked improvement compared to the state-wide average of 18%.
From tipping point to turning point.
When 575 vacancies appeared on the board in spring 2025, Dr. Shanna Johnston, Chief Human Resources Officer, recognized it as a moment that demanded a different kind of response.
"We knew that if we didn't act boldly, we would fail the very students we're here to serve," she said. "That urgency, that moral obligation. That's why Project Believe had to happen."
Project Believe wasn't a traditional recruitment push. It was a full operational overhaul. The district tracked its goal — 575 to 0 — with weekly precision. Dashboards showing vacancy numbers by school, region, and district were shared with every stakeholder, every week. The transparency sparked something unexpected: Principals, notoriously competitive, began collaborating. Fully-staffed schools started passing strong candidates to those still in need.
"Project Believe wasn't just a recruitment campaign," Dr. Johnston reflected. "It was an operational overhaul."
Treating substitute talent as a pipeline, not a patch.
The most significant shifts Lee County made was reframing how it thought about Kelly Education's guest teacher pool. "One of the most innovative ways we partnered with Kelly Education is by treating the talent as an incubator," said Dr. Johnston.
Rather than relying on substitutes as short-term coverage, Lee County and Kelly Education worked together to identify guest teachers who held bachelor's degrees and connect them to certification pathways — turning that existing talent pool into a feeder for full-time positions. Kelly provided a master certified list of credentialed guest teachers, which the district shared directly with school principals so they could quickly identify and request high-quality talent without routing everything through central HR.
The intern-to-teacher bridge went a step further. Kelly Education hired education interns and placed them directly in Lee County classrooms before graduation, giving future teachers the chance to learn the district's systems and build relationships with students before ever stepping into a full-time role.
When the last 37 vacancies remained open on the first day of school, Kelly Education certified guest teachers filled them, allowing the district to keep the promise it had made to students, families, and staff.
The results, by the numbers.
Lee County's outcomes were striking, especially against the backdrop of a statewide staffing crisis:
- 81% reduction in teacher vacancies year over year, compared to 18% statewide
- 69 of 118 schools began the year with zero vacancies
- 37 remaining vacancies filled by Kelly Education certified guest teachers on day one
- Every student in the district started the school year with a certified teacher in the classroom
For Dr. Johnston, the work isn't just a staffing win. It's a proof point for what's possible when a district chooses to believe in what it can do. "What if every classroom in our nation had a certified teacher? What would that mean for our nation? When you really think about that, it's pretty powerful."