HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Raises are on the way for Hillsborough County school employees.
The school board unanimously approved a plan to use money generated from the increased property tax voters approved in November.
More than 65 percent of Hillsborough County voters approved a millage to generate $177 million annually for its schools. The tax will add an extra dollar for every thousand dollars a home is worth.
“I'm excited. I'm very hopeful that this is going to bring more teachers into the district and give the district the choice of who it employs and brings more students’ academic success in the long run,” Ellen Lyons with Hillsborough Students Deserve Better said.
Teachers will see a $6,000 pay boost next school year.
“You're going to see your kids having more consistent teachers and not having to worry about them hopefully leaving mid-year because they have the means to do the things they need to do to survive,” Damaris Allen with Families for Strong Public Schools said.
Creating more competitive salaries is not just a reward, but what officials see as a necessity for retention and recruitment to help with shortages.
“There's about 400 classroom teachers and that doesn't even talk about the support professionals that are helping kids as well so that's thousands of kids right now without a quality teacher in front of them. We're going to fix that. We're going to work with the district,” Rob Kriete with Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association said.
Supporting staff like bus drivers or cafeteria staff will receive a $3,000 raise.
“I just feel like we fell a little short when it came to them because a lot of these support positions are with our under-served, underrepresented populations in this district,” Board member Karen Perez said.
Despite the amount, board members said this funding will be money well spent.
“We're funded 50th. Tell me where we are going to collect $180 million. We have closed schools, we have sacrificed so much, we are at the district level at the bare minimum,” Board member Nadia Combs said.
The school district said it will not start receiving money from the referendum until late next year.
Teachers and support staff are guaranteed to get that pay boost for the 20-25 school year. It also said money will go towards expanding academic enrichment programs which include art and college readiness classes.