TAMPA, Fla. — Workers are using the summer break to make major improvements at some Hillsborough County Schools.
Freedom High School and Liberty Middle School are two of the schools with major projects that they're working on across the district right now. They're essentially jamming in 20 weeks worth of work into 10 weeks to make sure when kids come back to class, there's a new chiller plant for the air conditioning along with new ductwork in classrooms, new infrastructure for more reliable and faster internet, and new security and fire alarms.
School Board Chair Lynn Gray says these upgrades mean a better environment for education.
”The safer our children are, the better they will learn,” Gray said.
Altogether, the district is tackling 14 projects. Usually, there are about 20, but the district scaled back due to decreased revenue forecasts during the pandemic.
Every time you shop in Hillsborough County, half of a cent from every taxable dollar is going back to the school district for these types of capital projects. Voters said yes to a referendum back in 2018 to fund over a billion dollars worth of deferred maintenance for 10 years. The tax started in January 2019.
There is a website and a committee to have transparency and oversight on where all the money goes.
The superintendent says the district has hired local businesses to do the work for 80 percent of the projects, while 25 percent have been minority-owned.
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