HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The Florida Department of Education reached out to several school districts, including Hillsborough County, for not complying with new state laws.
The state alerted the Hillsborough County school district that it needs to make changes to comply with the "Parental Rights in Education" law. It's the same law some critics have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law.
According to a school board workshop Tuesday, the state directed Hillsborough County Superintendent Addison Davis to provide a report to them on Wednesday to give an update on what the district plans to do about the state’s demands. The district told 10 Tampa Bay that has now been changed and they are still drafting a report.
One of the policies being challenged is the district’s LGBTQ+ critical resource and support guide from staff outlining restrooms, sex-segregated facilities and gender pronouns.
“We got really specific feedback for our LGBTQ+ guide that you'll see. But there's really kind of been silence as it relates to the racial equity policy,” Dr. Monica Verra Tirado, chief of diversity, equity, and inclusion for Hillsborough County schools, said.
The wording in question regards “access to restrooms and sex-segregated facilities.” Davis said they’re actively working to make changes.
"They're pleased with the progress that we're making. But we just got to work quickly as we can to be in compliance,” Davis said back in December.
Part of the problem, some board members said, is the district is falling behind when it comes to legal representation.
"When academic services call me and say, 'this is what needs to happen with sex-ed,' I need to work with somebody who has multiple clients. We are not the priority. How do we run a $4 billion industry and not have a dedicated client,” Board Chair Nadia Combs said.
Board members also said with changing laws and guidance, more legal manpower is a necessity so that these kinds of compliance issues don’t continue to plague the district.
“I know our attorneys have done a magnificent job. It is nothing about them. It is the need, the amount of laws that are coming down from the state, the amount of statutes that are coming down," Combs said. "We cannot do a job without having more legal representation in-house at our district office.”
At Tuesday's workshop, Davis and board members agreed to schedule a meeting to vote on the proposed changes and decide whether or not to change the certain language to comply with state law or to keep it as is and deal with any potential consequences. So far, no date has been set to take the vote.