As the first day of classes draws closer, school districts in the Tampa Bay Area face the reality of being negatively impacted by a lack of teachers.
Davis said that there was a shortage of 680 teachers in Hillsborough County with classes beginning on Wednesday, August 10.
According to him, the district plans to contact recently retired teachers to see if they’d be interested in coming back to assist out. Davis also stated that the district would attempt to employ additional part-time teachers and that local authorities may request that state fines for exceeding class size limitations be waived to ease the situation. He estimated that roughly 2,000 teachers had departed Hillsborough County in the last year for a variety of reasons, including retirement and burnout.
Davis said that if voters in Hillsborough approve of the planned increase in school taxes on August 23, it would assist improve salaries and retain teachers.
According to the school district, if the tax were to be authorized, it would result in an annual increase of $225 in expenses for the typical homeowner who owns a property with a taxable value of $250,000.
Featured Image by Feliphe Schiarolli on Unsplash
