Pinellas, Pasco teacher vacancies are down. Hillsborough’s are up. Why?
With students’ return to classes just weeks away, officials at two Tampa Bay area school districts say they’re having a much easier time hiring teachers than in the past few years.
The Pinellas County district reported having 74 vacancies at the end of the week, compared to 174 at the same time a year ago. The Pasco County district reported its openings had dipped below 100 by its July 9 school board meeting, about half of the number from the start of the summer break and well below the level of a year ago.
In 2022, local district leaders were talking about facing a crisis of hundreds of unfilled teaching jobs.
“It takes stress off the school,” Pasco schools assistant superintendent Kevin Shibley said of the lower number of open positions. “Teachers aren’t having to cover vacancies … and it puts a high-quality teacher in front of kids, which is the most important factor.”
Hillsborough County schools, by contrast, said they had more than 500 teacher vacancies, slightly higher than at the same time a year ago. District officials fretted that the county’s lack of a local-option property tax to bolster salaries — something that neighboring Manatee, Pinellas and Pasco all have — hinders their ability to attract and retain educators.
The Hillsborough County Commission last week denied the school board’s plan to place a referendum before voters in November. The board is expected to challenge that decision in court.
“We’ve been doing a big recruiting campaign,” Hillsborough school district spokesperson Tanya Arja said. “But we don’t have the millage. That makes us less competitive with the districts surrounding us. We’re trying to show we’re competitive in other ways.”
That includes a focus on positive school culture, strong educational leaders and an already settled 2024-25 contract, she said.
Pasco and Pinellas officials count the added wages they can offer from their referendums among the selling points as they recruit.
“We can’t just talk about this without mentioning the referendum and thanking the voters,” Pasco board member Colleen Beaudoin said. “It does correlate with that.”
Since winning passage of its local-option tax in 2022, Pasco has boosted its minimum pay for teachers above Hillsborough’s base. Pasco also has changed its hiring model to make it easier to offer jobs to qualified candidates on the spot, rather than having a more extended process.
Pinellas, which has had its tax in place since 2004, is asking voters to increase the rate this fall so it can give teachers annual bonuses surpassing $10,000, while also adding money for noninstructional employees.
Lee Bryant, president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, said he can see improvement in the number of teachers joining the district. He held out hope that upcoming contract negotiations will bring even bigger pay raises.
“It’s looking much better than it has been,” Bryant said. “Now we need to compensate those teachers so we can retain them once some of those people who are new to the classroom feel the pressure of being in the classroom.”
Florida Education Association president Andrew Spar suggested that some school districts might have fewer vacancies because they have eliminated positions. He referred to the end of federal pandemic recovery grants, which have prompted many districts to cut jobs.
The Pasco district reported having three more teaching positions allocated this year than last year. It did cut several teacher aide positions. A Pinellas spokesperson said the district had about 160 fewer positions, though the numbers are fluctuating, while Hillsborough had about 300 more teaching jobs.
“We are still growing as a school district. We built Adum PreK-8, which is opening this year,” Hillsborough spokesperson Arja said. “And even though we are repurposing five schools this year, the students are just moving to new schools. So, the teaching positions move with them.”
Changes to class size requirements also might play a factor, Spar said. With the state removing most financial penalties for missing the mark, many districts have increased the number of students per teacher, leading to the need for fewer teachers.
All three Tampa Bay area districts have used class size averages as allowed under law as a way to meet the voter-approved mandate.
Jeffrey S. Solochek is an education reporter covering K-12 education policy and schools. Reach him at jsolochek@tampabay.com.
Pinellas, Pasco teacher vacancies are down. Hillsborough’s are up. Why? (tampabay.com)