Hillsborough schools to start year with top grades and fewer teacher openings
TAMPA, Fla. - Hillsborough Schools Superintendent Van Ayres was joined by Dr. Henry Mack, the new Florida education commissioner, during a kickoff event for the school year.
Hillsborough schools grade performance
What we know:
He said 74 schools were graded as "A" schools by the state education department, which is about 32% of the district. There were no "F" schools and only one "D" school.
Ayres said the biggest obstacles to success for those schools are the right teaching candidates and installing great leaders throughout the school buildings.
District teacher vacancies reduced
The backstory:
A voter-approved millage proposal helped the district fill hundreds of open positions, lowering teacher shortages to 200 from more than 650 vacancies two years ago.
Academic performance improved district wide last year as 40 schools raised their overall standing by one letter grade.
School district year agenda
What they're saying:
Ayres says he doesn't foresee major policy disagreements or changes ahead for the school board, with this being the beginning of his third full year.
"There's nothing with any view of policy or anything changed. There's nothing new that's coming up for this school year," said Ayres. "This is about hitting the ground running, focusing on students from day one when they get here. So that's going to be our primary focus is on the students in our school district. You're not going to see anything around, you know, anything else around changes or whatever."
Mack says that even with a change in state leadership coming in less than six months, he still expects a consistency in the department's goals.
"Why I'm here when I'm here now is to provide stability and longevity and to double down on the great education agenda that this governor has set and, again, the next governor too will, I think, accelerate even more, and I'm here to enable and help that," said Mack.
Student academic achievement increases
By the numbers:
Third-grade English proficiency standards reached 57% across the district, marking an eight-point increase year over year. At a collection of six high schools, International Baccalaureate diploma attainment rates climbed from 86% to 90%.
Hillsborough school year schedule
What's next:
School starts on Monday, so certainly remember that if you're driving around in the morning that it's the first day, so some students and bus drivers might be taking it slow.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from Hillsborough Schools Superintendent Van Ayres and Florida Education Commissioner Dr. Henry Mack, who detailed district metrics during a school year kickoff event.