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Hillsborough superintendent lays out plan to give teachers raises, but there's a catch

Hillsborough County School District Superintendent Jeff Eakins says a plan to cut more than 800 positions should save enough money for teacher raises.
Credit: WTSP
Hillsborough County teachers rally on Dec. 16, 2017.

TAMPA, Fla. — Is there finally hope that Hillsborough teachers could see a pay hike?

Negotiations have gone nowhere for months with the union and district at odds over a promised $4,000 raise roughly 5,000 qualified teachers have waited three years to receive.

Hillsborough County School District Superintendent Jeff Eakins has a plan to make teacher raises possible again.

But there’s a catch.

The plan calls for the elimination of more than 800 positions to get to that point, including:

  • 13 district administration positions (4 1/2 percent decrease)
  • 15 school administration positions (2 percent decrease)
  • 229 support staff positions (2 1/2 percent decrease)
  • 581 instructional positions (4 percent decrease)

The entire plan cuts the district's workforce from 25,173 to 24,335.

However, Eakins maintains positions will be eliminated through natural attrition, not layoffs.

"We know every year we have about 1,000 employees who will not be returning—either through retirement, resigning, moving to other locations—so we were very strategic as we went into this planning process to ensure that all our current, permanent employees had jobs next year," Eakins said.

►THE PLAN: 'Important Changes for Hillsborough Schools' presentation

Union leaders have leveled criticisms at the district that they continue to keep administrative positions while cutting teachers and pay, but this report says these planned cuts, combined with cuts since 2016, amount to the elimination of “22 percent of all our district administrator positions.”

Eliminations at the administrative level mean structural changes for the district. The superintendents' chief of staff position will be eliminated as will two assistant superintendent positions.

District spending has exceeded revenue by as much as $130 million, according to the report, which says the district is now on track to end that trend by next year.

What is unclear is whether these cuts will amount to enough to fulfill the promised $4,000 pay raise to qualifying teachers.

Hillsborough Classroom Teachers' Association executive direction Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins says she fears the $30 million is still short. She said what this proposal lacks is trust.

"One of the key pieces that has to be considered is this is the third major reorganization in three years and so there's some foundational issues that I think are hard, in terms of things have not been stable," she said.

Impact on ongoing negotiations will be minimal, Baxter-Jenkins said.

“Look they’ve put some money on the table for negotiations, which is more they’ve done for a year, so that’s certainly a movement in the right direction," she said.

►MORE: After pay raises denied, Hillsborough teachers to work no more than 8-hour days

The presentation also details how the district plans to manage 49 underperforming schools as part of it's 'Achievement Zone.'

Eakins, who will present the plan to the school board Tuesday afternoon, plans to speak with media about the plan later this morning.

He said he also plans to start exploring the possibility of a tax referendum, either through a tax increase or a millage to help cover the district’s increasing costs. That’s something Baxter-Jenkins says she supports.

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