Hillsborough County schools officials are set to return to the negotiating table Monday with its teachers. 

  • Teachers fighting for raises they say were promised by district
  • About 4,000 teachers were supposed to get raises
  • Administrators claim there's not enough money

At a bargaining session today, the two sides will try to come to an agreement over teachers' expected raises and the district saying it can not afford it. 

That sticking point came to a head on the Monday after the Thanksgiving break when nearly 60 Leto High School teachers "worked their contract," leaving at exactly 3:15 p.m. The move was their way of showing how much extra work teachers do before and after work. 

So what's the next move?

"Our teachers in Hillsborough County on average are paid higher than all of our contiguous counties," said Hillsborough Superintendent Jeff Eakins. "Now that doesn’t mean that we should do more, we want to do more when the dollars are there to do more." 

But that is not going over well with many teachers. 

According to the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, about 4,000 teachers were supposed to get raises this year. The district took the raises off the table shortly after school started, with administrators saying there was not enough money. 

"Teachers get pushed to the back of the line," said teacher Simo Prill during the Leto walkout. "And we are tired of it.

"We are with our kids every day. We do this because we love our jobs, but we are professionals and we are not being treated as such."