Hillsborough Superintendent applauds judge's decision to place teacher pay referendum on November ballot

TAMPA, Fla. - Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent Van Ayres held a news conference Saturday applauding the decision by a thirteenth Judicial Circuit judge to place the school board's millage referendum back on the November ballot.

"Every child, everyone deserves the best classroom experience possible. And that's exactly what this millage is about," Ayres said.

The court's decision comes after Hillsborough County Commissioners voted 4 to 3 last month to place the tax increase on the November 2026 ballot instead.

"We are very happy that the voters of Hillsborough County will get to decide the fate of this very important referendum. The campaign will educate the impacted individual households, the positive, economic impact to our communities, and, of course, how it's going to help our students and children," Hillsborough County Classroom Teacher’s Association President Rob Kriete said.

Superintendent Van Ayres pushed for the referendum to be on the November ballot to help give teachers and administrators raises. The district estimates the millage would raise an estimated $177 million to support Hillsborough’s students each year.

District leaders worry they will continue to lose educators to surrounding counties that can pay teachers more money.

"Going into next year, we have about, 500 classroom teacher vacancies going to this year, which meets means approximately 8000 students will not be served in the manner our parents and community expect. Right now, we have approximately 118 bus driver vacancies, which means we'll have students that are late for school," Ayres said.

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If approved, the referendum would add one mill to property taxes in Hillsborough County, which would cost a typical homeowner about $281 per year, or 75 cents per day.

"We've been tremendous partners with the county meeting right now with our emergency preparations. We work with them day to day. My staff works with them. So we're, I'm hoping, that we can move forward from this and continue to be, you know, great partners. You know, we disagreed on this one issue, but let's move forward together," Ayres said.

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