Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is asking the Florida Legislature to approve $216 million in funding to give $1,000 bonuses to reward full-time public school principals and teachers for their hard work during the pandemic.

Speaking at Palm Harbor University High School on Wednesday, DeSantis said just like our first responders, “Our Florida teachers and school principals have put student success first throughout the course of the coronavirus pandemic,” DeSantis said.

If the plan is approved, the governor said nearly 180,000 full-time teachers and more than 3,600 principals would receive bonuses. He has already issued bonuses to first responders from the Federal COVID Relief Fund.

The money for school workers would come from the state’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), which is part of the federal CARES Act.

DeSantis is asking the Florida Legislature to approve the funding during its current legislative session so the bonuses can be distributed “as soon as possible.”