Hillsborough Schools Have Too Few Students Here, Too Many There

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL — Starting Monday night, Hillsborough County parents are being asked to weigh in on some school boundary changes intended to relieve overcrowded schools by reassigning students to schools that are under capacity.

With 29 schools operating at or under 60 percent capacity, the Hillsborough County School Board has hired a consultant to study the school system to determine if some campuses can be closed or repurposed, and students bused to other schools.

To keep parents in the loop, the school district is hosting five virtual town hall meetings to outline the intent of the attendance boundary analysis, explore various scenarios and give parents a chance to discuss concerns.

The five virtual town hall meetings are planned from Sept. 12 to 16 at 6 p.m.

To attend the Monday meeting via Zoom, click here.

To attend any of the other meetings this week via Zoom, click here.

To watch the meetings live on YouTube, click here.

The public is also invited to complete an online survey.

Led by New York consulting firm, WXY Studio, which began its study in the spring, the boundary analysis is intended to provide an impartial analysis of current school boundaries, feeder patterns and program locations. After listening to parents' concerns and preferences, the consultant will make recommendations by December with potential boundary changes phased in during the 2024-25 school year.

According to Superintendent Addison Davis, enrollment at the county's 303 public schools continually fluctuates due to new housing developments, charter school growth and Florida school choice options.

"While HCPS has tried to keep pace with changing enrollment by building new schools and additions, this has led to disparities in school utilization," he said. "Some schools in Hillsborough County have too few students and others too many."

Davis estimates that 24 percent of the county's public schools are overcrowded and 44 percent are under capacity.

“These disparities have a trickle-down effect on the operational and maintenance budget of the school system, including providing transportation services to students,” Davis said. He said it's expensive to operate a school, especially when the school is well under capacity.

While attendance boundaries have been in place in many school zones for years, growth in some areas of the county and population losses in other areas have resulted in census changes at a number of schools, he said.

Additionally, noted Davis, charter schools have reduced the population at public schools by 16 percent. Other students have opted to leave their neighborhood schools to attend magnet schools or take advantage of the six state scholarship programs that allow qualified students to attend private schools.

Davis acknowledged that any changes recommended by the consultant will most likely prove controversial. Parents are protective of their neighborhood schools, particularly those with a long tradition of serving the community.

School board chairwoman Nadia Combs agreed, saying any plan to bus students from their neighborhood schools to a school that is farther away is bound to get pushback from parents.

At the same time, shortages of teachers, bus drivers and other school personnel are making it increasingly difficult to staff all 303 Hillsborough County public schools.

She notes that a school board referendum on the Aug. 23 primary election ballot to increase property taxes by 1 mil to fund salary increases to attract more teachers and bus drivers was narrowly defeated. She said the defeat of the referendum will make it more difficult for the school district to hire all the teachers and bus drivers needed at all its public schools.

"We’re going to have to make some hard decisions, but we will make those decisions in the best interests of students," she said.

According to the school district, 53 public school are at 95 percent or greater capacity.

Another 70 schools have 80 to 95 percent of seats filled, which is the ideal capacity.

And 93 schools are under capacity, with fewer than 80 percent of seats filled.

An estimated 15,154 students are expected to move into housing units currently under construction or permitted. Once these homes are occupied, 72 percent of schools will be over capacity, according to the school district.

Schools that are currently over 100 percent capacity include:

• Apollo Beach Elementary 104 percent
• Ballast Point Elementary 102 percent
• Bellmont Elementary 116 percent
• Chiles Elementary 107 percent
• Cypress Creek Elementary 117 percent
• Dawson Elementary 138 percent
• Doby Elementary 113 percent
• Gorrie Elementary 102 percent
• Grady Elementary 108 percent
• Knights Elementary 120 percent
• Lincoln Elementary 119 percent
• Mango Elementary 113 percent
• Mitchell Elementary 102 percent
• Pride Elementary 102 percent
• Reddick Elementary 120 percent
• Roosevelt Elementary 125 percent
• Sessums Elementary 117 percent
• Trapnell Elementary 103 percent
• West Shore Elementary 148 percent
• Barrington Middle School 115 percent
• Coleman Middle School 109 percent
• Eisenhower Middle School 117 percent
• Rodgers Middle School 112 percent
• Shields Middle School 114 percent
• Walker Middle School 106 percent
• Wilson Middle School 104 percent
• Bloomingdale High School 111 percent
• Newsome High School 105 percent
• Plant High School 102 percent
• Steinbrenner High School 104 percent
• Strawberry Crest High School 105 percent
• Sumner High School 135 percent
• Lutz K-8 106 percent
• Tinker K-8 104 percent

Schools at and under 60 percent capacity are:

• B.T. Washington Elementary 56 percent
• Baycrest Elementary 58 percent
• Bellamy Elementary 60 percent
• Broward Elementary 54 percent
• Cannella Elementary 58 percent
• Clair-Mel Elementary 52 percent
• Davis Elementary 56 percent
• Edison Elementary 54 percent
• Foster Elementary 57 percent
• James Elementary 59 percent
• Kingswood Elementary 60 percent
• Lockhart Elementary 56 percent
• Morgan Woods Elementary 55 percent
• Oak Park Elementary 56 percent
• Seffner Elementary 46 percent
• Sullivan Partnership 49 percent
• Tampa Bay Boulevard 57 percent
• Town N' Country Elementary 52 percent
• Adams Middle School 46 percent
• Dowdell Middle School 54 percent
• Ferrell Middle School 46 percent
• Franklin Middle School 34 percent
• Giunta Middle School 56 percent
• Mann Middle School 60 percent
• Jennings Middle School 60 percent
• Monroe Middle School 48 percent
• Sgt. Smith Middle School 49 percent
• Sligh Middle School 50 percent
• Young Middle School 50 percent