HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — “Honestly, we’re hoping that we’ll have a millage referendum on the ballot on November 5,” said Rob Kriete, president of the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association.
That’s why the HCTA is moving forward with its "Vote Yes for Students" campaign to gain support for the millage referendum.
The HCTA is expected to officially launch the campaign at 1 p.m. on Thursday.
“We’re going to be launching the campaign for the millage on Thursday. We believe that it is very necessary for the students of our district, and we believe that the tax payers and the voters of this district should have a say on November 5,” said Kriete.
However, whether the tax vote will actually happen this November remains unknown. That’s now up to a judge.
The school district filed a lawsuit against the Hillsborough County Commission to get the one mil increase on this November’s ballot.
This comes after commissioners made a decision on July 17 to delay the school district’s referendum and push off putting it on the ballot until 2026.
School officials have said the funding this tax would create would be used to boost teacher salaries, to recruit and retain educators as the district continues to battle a teacher shortage.
Hillsborough will be starting the school year with about 500 teacher vacancies—the most in Tampa Bay.
“We know that the situation in Hillsborough is not ideal to ask for more money for schools, but honestly, it’s one of those situations where we’re in a position where we have to ask for the sake of our children and for the students,” said Kriete.
Supporters of the referendum have said the district can’t wait until 2026 to see if voters approve the tax increase because they’re losing teachers to districts that pay better and don’t know how to move forward without the extra funding.
“If not, quite frankly, we’re going to have to really get creative on how we attract teachers with a noncompetitive salary. I find that to be a really difficult question to answer,” said Kriete.
The district has asked for an expedited review by the court. The judge assigned will set the timeline for the Board of County Commissioners to respond and for the judge’s decision on the matter.
The ballot language must be received by the Supervisor of Elections no later than Aug. 20.
