Sen. Tom Wright presented a $3.8 million check to fund a new commercial drivers license training facility in Florida.
Wright met with officials from Brevard Public School and its adult and community education branch on Aug. 1 to celebrate this grant that the senator pushed during last year’s state legislative session.
Mark Rendell, school superintendent and various board members were in attendance at Brevard, which is the 49th-largest district in the United States and the 10th largest in Florida.
According to the school district, a CDL training facility will aid Brevard County residents in learning new skills which will ultimately lead to employment opportunities.
The goal for this facility is to ease the stress of the trucker shortage.
“Thanks to Sen. Wright, Brevard County will have a CDL program to help the many communities and businesses,” a district announcement noted.
Students will begin getting accepted into the new program and the new facility when it opens next June.
Wright notes that there are 60,000 jobs in Florida that require a CDL, and that it is a privilege to help the district obtain state funding to give that opportunity to more people in a more accessible way.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 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.
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.
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.
