Cost to go back to school during a pandemic reaches millions for Hillsborough County
TAMPA, Fla. - Hillsborough County families have a tough decision to make about how their child returns to school in the fall, and the changes and safety measures needed due to COVID-19 come with some costs.
The proposed reopening plan for Hillsborough County Schools comes with room for flexibility and that means a wide range of costs.
“These are very, very rough numbers. These are numbers that I worked with staff to capture and calculate,” said Addison Davis, the superintendent of Hillsborough County Schools.
The costs include $165,000 for a Zoom license, $875,000 for courseware, $3 million for the curriculum, about $1.8 million for personal protective equipment like masks, and $5 million for student devices -- and the amount for some items is still unknown.
“We’re not going to be able to use water fountains at the launch of the school year. So we’re going to have to invest in water bottles, and that’s going to be a significant cost,” said Davis to school board members this week.
Some items would be covered in the district’s budget while others would need federal grant money. Some school leaders wonder about long-term costs.
“How often will you be replenishing the sanitation stations? And the calculated costs for this replenishing? Is it every three months, every month?” said Karen Perez, the school board member for District 5.
And there are questions around how long the district can afford the extra expenses.
“I’m concerned about the level of cleaning that we’re trained and capable of doing. We have custodians in our schools now and I just don’t…I love our custodial staff, but they’re not, we’re not experts in this,” said Cindy Stuart, the school board member for District 3.
There are also concerns about air circulation. This week, the superintendent told FOX 13 the district plans to change air filters as often as possible and continue working on solutions.
“We have a suite of engineers that are kind of looking at our HVAC systems right now to figure out what we can do to get some of that outside air and entry into and embedded into our classrooms,” said Davis.
On Friday, Governor Ron DeSantis said the education commissioner’s order for an August start date is not mandatory based on how the order was written. He said the intent was to work with the health department on a plan to get counties ready to reopen.