Hillsborough County has fewer teacher vacancies than expected, but still needs more educators

TAMPA, Fla. - Hillsborough County Schools wrapped up its 20-day student enrollment count this week, giving the district a better idea of the remaining number of teacher vacancies.

There are about 220,000 students this school year, which is roughly 2,000 more than last year, according to Superintendent Addison Davis.

"We have some pluses related to the number of students...in K through eight, also through high school," Davis said. "Looking at other alternative programs within our school district, we do see somewhat of a small, small decline in elementary and middle school as well. So we've really got to figure out what the causation is."

Following the 20-day count, about 100 teachers were moved to new schools and their students were added to existing classes.

READ: Bay Area program gives families a head start on saving for college

Davis hoped for a larger overall increase after the district lost 7,000 students during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The district, however, will now only need to increase most class sizes by an average of one or two students.

There are currently about 300 instructor vacancies, which is down from about 600 at the start of the school year.

"We were concerned that we were going to really make major, drastic changes to class size. We are fortunate we didn't have to in our core classrooms," said Davis.

As a result, the district now needs fewer teachers than initially anticipated; there are currently about 300 instructor vacancies, which is down from about 600 at the start of the school year.

Davis said that's better, but far from perfect.

"For us, it's always a problem until we're fully staffed," he said.

READ: Some school districts will raise meal prices with federal waivers gone

Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association President Rob Kriet told FOX 13 state law only limits class sizes for core subjects, such as reading and math. He wants to take a deeper dive into the class sizes of non-core subjects.

There are about 220,000 students this school year, which is roughly 2,000 more than last year, according to Superintendent Addison Davis.

"Elective classes, P.E., music, art, all of that, they could put as many students as they need to or they want to in those classes. That's a huge concern," Kriet explained. "We're going to be polling our members to find out what the actual numbers are in their classroom."

The superintendent said the district receives about $8,000 in state funding per student, so more students would have meant more funding. Davis said those dollars could have been used to hire more teachers.