Teacher Cert Pathfinder

Transferring a Virginia teaching licence to Florida

Corridor record≈360 teachers a year ±23%

Open question · confirm with the agencyread 10 Sep 2026

Is a Virginia Provisional License — nonrenewable, issued with “allowable deficiencies for full licensure” — a “valid professional standard teaching certificate issued by another state” under s. 1012.56, F.S.?

Who can answer: FLDOE Bureau of Educator Certification, 800-445-6739, Monday–Friday 08:00–17:00 Eastern

That one document satisfies all three of Florida’s mastery requirements at once. A Virginia Collegiate Professional or Postgraduate Professional License is a 10-year renewable licence issued only after Virginia’s professional teacher’s assessments. A Provisional License is issued before those are complete. If FLDOE does not treat it as professional standard, the Virginia teacher faces the General Knowledge Test, the subject area test and the Professional Education Test, pays the nonrefundable fee per subject, and cannot fall back on any examination score more than ten years old.

The published rules do not settle this. We have not yet put the question to the agency; when it answers, the answer and its date go here.

Every entry is cited and dated. Where it is not settled:To confirm with the agencyNot published by the agencyNot in our record yetChanged on a date

Which framework applies to you

Virginia
Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact member (enacted 2026)
Florida
Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact member (enacted 2023)

Florida licence terms: Professional Certificate, 5 years · Temporary Certificate, 5 years.

Florida Department of EducationCertificate Types and Requirements

Route

Which regime applies

Virginia (2026) and Florida (2023) are both listed members of the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact, but Florida’s certification statute does not incorporate the compact. FLDOE evaluates a Virginia teacher under s. 1012.56, F.S., and that statute turns on whether the Virginia licence is a professional standard certificate.
Council of State Governments, National Center for Interstate CompactsInterstate Teacher Mobility Compact — member states

Which compact members actually operate the route →

Moving on military orders? Federal law gives a military spouse a separate route: a covered teaching certificate is valid in the new state on three documents. Florida’s education agency does not mention that route on the pages we read. What federal law and Florida publish →

United States Congress — 50 U.S.C. §4025a as amended by Pub. L. 118-159 §587 (text as published by the Mississippi Real Estate Commission)50 U.S.C. §4025a — Portability of professional licenses of servicemembers and their spousesFlorida Department of Education, Bureau of Educator CertificationMilitary (educator certification)

What Florida requires

Who qualifies

The one document that satisfies three requirements

A valid professional standard teaching certificate issued by another state is an accepted means of demonstrating mastery of general knowledge, mastery of subject area knowledge, and mastery of professional preparation and education competence.
Documentation of a valid professional standard teaching certificate issued by another state

s. 1012.56(3)(b), (5)(e) and (6)(c), F.S. (2026 edition). The same phrase appears in all three subsections.

The Florida Senates. 1012.56, F.S. — Educator certification requirements (2026 edition)

Open questionTo confirm with the agency

What counts as a “professional standard” certificate

The statute’s wording is “professional standard”. Where a sending state operates a two-tier system with an entry-level certificate and a separate advanced tier it calls Professional, whether the entry-level tier satisfies this wording is not resolved on the published record.

This is the single question that decides whether an applicant sits no Florida examinations or three. Confirm with the Bureau of Educator Certification before paying the nonrefundable fee.

The Florida Senates. 1012.56, F.S. — Educator certification requirements (2026 edition)

Route

Route 1 — a valid standard certificate from another state

The certificate must be that state’s valid standard educator’s certificate, comparable to a Florida Professional Certificate, issued in a comparable subject, requiring the same or higher level of training, and currently valid — not expired or revoked.
Florida Department of EducationCertified Teacher Or Administrator — Reciprocity for Out-of-state Teachers and Administrators

Route

Route 2 — National Board certification

A currently valid NBPTS certificate. The Florida certificate reflects the Florida subject considered comparable to the NBPTS subject.
Florida Department of EducationCertified Teacher Or Administrator — Reciprocity for Out-of-state Teachers and Administrators

Who qualifies

The two Florida certificates

Professional Certificate — five school years, renewable, Florida’s highest educator certificate. Temporary Certificate — five school years, nonrenewable, and issued only after you are employed in a Florida school and fingerprints have cleared.
Florida Department of EducationCertificate Types and Requirements

Fee

Initial Florida certificate

$75 per subject, nonrefundable.

Authorised by the State Board of Education under Certification Rule 6A-4.0012, F.A.C. Adding a subject is $75 per subject; removing one is $20 per subject; upgrading Temporary to Professional is $75; late renewal is $105.

Florida Department of EducationCertification Application Fee Schedule

How it goes wrong

Examination scores expire after ten years

Only passing examination scores earned no more than ten years before the date of application are acceptable.
Only passing exam scores earned no more than ten (10) years prior to the date of application are acceptable.

A mid-career teacher whose subject-area examination predates that window has no usable scores for the examination route.

Florida Department of EducationSubject Area Examinations

How it goes wrong

You may pay for fingerprinting twice

A US citizen who has fingerprints processed before Florida employment, in order to get the Professional Certificate in hand, may need them reprocessed and may have to pay a second processing fee as a condition of employment in a Florida public school.
If a U.S. citizen chooses to have his/her fingerprints processed prior to Florida employment for issuance of the Professional Certificate, it may be necessary to have the fingerprints reprocessed, and the individual may have to pay a second processing fee as a condition of employment in a Florida public school.
Florida Department of EducationCertificate Types and Requirements

How long

Statutory issuance deadline

The department shall issue a professional certificate to a qualifying applicant within 90 calendar days of receiving the completed application, pursuant to s. 120.60.
the department shall issue within 90 calendar days after receipt of the completed application a professional certificate to a qualifying applicant

s. 1012.56(1)(a), F.S. This is a statutory duty rather than a service target.

The Florida Senates. 1012.56, F.S. — Educator certification requirements (2026 edition)

Order of steps

The four steps, and why step 3 traps out-of-state applicants

Application package, then the Official Statement of Status of Eligibility, then employment in a Florida school, then fingerprints. Step 3 is getting a job, so the standard path cannot be completed from out of state without a Florida offer.
These four steps lead to your initial Florida certificate

This is the practical reason a Temporary certificate cannot issue before employment. A holder of a valid professional standard certificate from another state qualifies for the Professional certificate without step 3 gating them the same way, which is exactly what makes the tier question on this corridor worth so much.

Florida Department of EducationCertification Steps, and Step 4: Submitting Fingerprints for Certification

Not publishedNot published by the agency

The compact is not part of Florida’s certification statute

An automated check on 9 September 2026 found no occurrence of the word “compact” anywhere in s. 1012.56, F.S. Florida’s compact codification is a separate section, s. 1012.993, F.S., and no occurrence of “compact” was found on FLDOE’s reciprocity page either.
The Florida Senates. 1012.56, F.S. — Educator certification requirements (2026 edition)

Your Virginia credential

What Virginia calls the certificate you hold, and where it sits in Virginia’s own tiers — the thing Florida will compare.

Credential tier

The Provisional License

Nonrenewable, valid for up to three years, and issued to someone with allowable deficiencies for full licensure. Every requirement for a renewable licence, including all licensure assessments, must be completed within it.
The Provisional License is a nonrenewable license valid for a period not to exceed three years issued to an individual who has allowable deficiencies for full licensure as set forth in this chapter.
Virginia Board of Education (Virginia Administrative Code, published by the Virginia General Assembly)8VAC20-23-50 Types of licenses; dating licenses

Credential tier

The renewable licences

The Collegiate Professional License is a 10-year renewable licence for someone who has met every licensure requirement, including a bachelor’s degree and Virginia’s professional teacher’s assessments. The Postgraduate Professional License is the same with a graduate degree.
The Collegiate Professional License is a 10-year, renewable license available to an individual who has satisfied all requirements for licensure
Virginia Board of Education (Virginia Administrative Code, published by the Virginia General Assembly)8VAC20-23-50 Types of licenses; dating licenses

Credential tier

Middle education is limited to the concentration on the licence

A Virginia middle education 6-8 licence lists one or more concentrations — English, mathematics, science, or history and social sciences — and the holder may teach only those.
The applicant will be restricted to teaching only in the area or areas of concentration listed on the teaching license.
Virginia Board of Education (Virginia Administrative Code, published by the Virginia General Assembly)8VAC20-23-170 Middle education 6-8

The endorsement, side by side

The secondary mathematics endorsement in Virginia and Florida
VirginiaFlorida
Certificate or endorsementMathematicsMathematics (6-12)
Grade band6–12 (the regulation groups it under “secondary grades 6-12”)6–12
Named examinationNot in our record yetFlorida subject area test: Mathematics (6-12)
Virginia Board of Education (Virginia Administrative Code, published by the Virginia General Assembly)8VAC20-23-430 MathematicsFlorida Department of EducationSubject Area Examinations

Note the grade-band mismatch. Virginia issues 6–12 (the regulation groups it under “secondary grades 6-12”); Florida issues 6–12. Whether that matters depends on whether the destination applies an identity test or a comparability test — and those are different tests with different outcomes.

What works in your favour

Virginia issues biology, chemistry, Earth science and physics as separate endorsements, and Florida issues Biology, Chemistry, Earth-Space Science and Physics separately at 6-12, so a single-science Virginia teacher has a named Florida counterpart.

Florida Department of EducationSubject Area Examinations — full certification-subject-area to test table

Virginia’s secondary subject endorsements sit under the regulation’s “secondary grades 6-12” part, the same span Florida uses for its 6-12 subject areas.

Virginia Board of Education (Virginia Administrative Code, published by the Virginia General Assembly)8VAC20-23-180 PreK-12, special education, secondary grades 6-12, and adult education endorsements

What it costs to get this corridor wrong

Money, time and outcomes, each set by a rule or published by the agency and cited on its entry. None is our estimate.

Money

Florida initial certificate fee, per subject and nonrefundable

Filed before FLDOE decides whether your Virginia licence is a professional standard certificate. Two subjects means paying twice.
Florida Department of EducationCertification Application Fee Schedule

Examinations

Three examinations instead of none

If a Virginia Provisional License is not accepted as professional standard: General Knowledge, the subject area test and the Professional Education Test.
The Florida Senates. 1012.56, F.S. — Educator certification requirements (2026 edition)

Blocked route

Old exam scores are dead

Florida accepts no passing score earned more than ten years before application, so a mid-career Virginia teacher cannot fall back on the Praxis they passed to be licensed.
Florida Department of EducationSubject Area Examinations

Blocked route

A middle-grades band Florida does not issue

Virginia middle education is 6-8 and restricted to the concentration printed on the licence. Florida’s middle grades subject areas are 5-9.
Virginia Board of Education (Virginia Administrative Code, published by the Virginia General Assembly)8VAC20-23-170 Middle education 6-8

Nothing here is a prediction about your file. It is what the published rules say happens, and what the agency charges, if a step is taken in the wrong order or on the wrong document.

Licence classes on this corridor

This corridor covers 6 licence classes: Secondary mathematics, Elementary, Middle grades, Secondary science, Secondary English language arts, Special education. The requirements above apply to all of them. No pack is written for any of them yet. Subject-specific facts are on the Florida page where we have them.

Where these facts come from

This page cites 9 sources. Every one is named on the entry that uses it, with the date we read it. The full register, including what we archived and what we could not retrieve, is at every source we cite.

Everything we have verified about Florida → · About Virginia →

Cite this page: Teacher Cert Pathfinder, “Virginia to Florida,” record as of 10 September 2026. Changes and corrections are logged on What changed.