TAMPA, Fla. — The Hillsborough County Schools Board will continue crunching the numbers in its budget Tuesday as the district grapples with less revenue and more expenses due to coronavirus and the economy.

A July budget report showed the district depleted its emergency fund by more than $50 million as a result of less revenue, increasing coronavirus and PPE expenses and employee salary obligations.


What You Need To Know


The school district also said it has lost 20,000 students in enrollment to virtual, private and charter schools in recent years. State funding per student is based on enrollment, however the state agreed this year to fund schools based on pre-coronavirus enrollment.

The district is preparing for the possibility that by early next year the state "true-ups" funding will be based on actual enrollment numbers, which could force further belt-tightening.

While school board members debate the ongoing budget issues today, education advocates are planning a teacher protest outside.

Teachers fear program and job cuts as a result of the budget shortfall. However, Superintendent Addison Davis said schools will still have art and music. 

Officials also said they're trying to eliminate non-classroom positions and leaving vacancies open rather than cutting a lot of teachers. 

"School board members are pushing back," Deputy Superintendent Michael Kemp said. 

They said while it's important to balance the budget, the recommendations seem extreme and several of them took issue with the word "deficit" being used. Board members said they're getting lots of calls from constituents who are angry about potential cuts. 

However, district officials said the numbers are real and have to be dealt with. 

There has been a concerted effort in recent days in private social media groups to get as many teachers as possible to today's board meeting.

A 9-page memo by an unnamed writer has been circulating quietly among teachers this week called "The State of Things." The memo is critical of the school board and Superintendent Addison Davis in the handling of coronavirus response, spending and management of learning platforms.

Also at today's board meeting, Davis is expected to re-activate a $100-million line of credit that has been available to the district since 1987.

The line of credit has never been dipped into, and district officials said even with the current budget shortfalls it is not expected to use it.

Sign up now for one of our newsletters that will show up in your inbox every weekday at 1 p.m. The newsletters highlight the most important stories of the day that you need to know for your area.

Spectrum News 13 newsletter

Spectrum Bay News 9 newsletter