Shortage of teachers, bus drivers pose challenge ahead of school year in Hillsborough County

TAMPA, Fla. - With just a few more days until the first day of school in Tampa Bay, the Hillsborough County School District doesn’t have enough bus drivers and teachers to fill all the open positions.

Students will soon be back in the classroom, and this year is shaping up a little differently.

By the numbers:

"We have anticipated numbers for how many students we think we’re going to have and then we adjust. So, really, once we get to the end of this first week, we’ll really get an indication," said Van Ayres, the superintendent of Hillsborough County Schools. "We’re expecting 1,500, but now I have 1,700, and then we ultimately make adjustments. We make shifts."

Last year, there were 600 teacher vacancies and 150 bus driver vacancies for the start of the 2024-2025 school year. But Ayres said that number has dropped to 430 teacher vacancies and 50 bus driver openings at the start of the 2025-2026 school year. It’s a figure that the teachers' union credits to voters to help attract more prospective teachers.

"The voters of Hillsborough County happily voted in the mileage referendum, which does help everyone’s salaries, the teachers and support staff. So, we are very, very thankful that we have a community that really believes in strong public schools," said Rob Kriete, the president of the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association.

Why you should care:

The Hillsborough County teachers union said the vacancies take a toll.

"What that does is it has a ripple effect on everyone’s work. So, every teacher in that school is going to be pitching in a little bit on their planning time," said Kriete. "We try to make sure that it has the least amount of impact, but there’s no way that we can say that not having a teacher is not hurtful. It is."

Big picture view:

Students also need full bellies to learn with. Feeding Tampa Bay said they have 79 school pantries across five counties.

"We try and identify areas of our community where the need is greatest. We work with the superintendents of the schools to help identify the schools we want to be in, and so it’s a way to make sure we’re in the right place in the community," said Thomas Mantz, the president and CEO of Feeding Tampa Bay.

Feeding Tampa Bay said one in four children struggle with food insecurity. Their school pantries are expected to grow to at least 85 or more this school year.

"We put pantries inside schools to make access to food easier. But what we ended up finding out was grades improved for the kids, attendance got better for the kids, behavior problems went down," said Mantz.

Despite the different challenges, educators work through it and hope to serve students the best way they can this new school year.