New Plant City elementary and middle schools left out.
On October 28, the Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) Board voted on a tentative five-year facilities plan for the District. “Over the course of the last two months, many things have come to light here in this district,” Patti Rendon, School Board Member representing District 4, said in the meeting. “We have had many changes. We’ve had many letters sent to the district on proposed changes they would like to make within the State of Florida, including for 24 schools here in Hillsborough County. With that in mind, this plan was not changed in any sort of way to address those changes. Also, this plan does not take into consideration the east county/Plant City area for potential elementary and middle schools.” According to Rendon, the HCPS Finance Department is unable to break out the per student cost at each school. “How are we making decisions to maximize the growth we are having in schools and still be able to utilize that money in other avenues where it is needed?” she asked. “We have no basis to understand that, therefore we have no basis of knowing if it is worth it to add on a wing when we have no guarantee of enrollment….I believe it is irresponsible for us to approve a plan without many of those questions being asked….I can’t support this at this time.”
The HCPS Board did move forward to take a vote, and the facilities plan passed 6-1 with Rendon being the sole “No” vote. “I think our Board, our district, is not paying attention to the needs of the whole community,” Rendon said after the meeting. “I think they are looking at where we have low enrollment schools, coming up with ways they can add to the enrollment, and ignoring our side of the county that has need for additional schools because we have over-enrollment. We have new communities that are being built every day. Their five-year plan does not include the Plant City elementary school or the Plant City middle school. Quite frankly, they are not paying attention at all to what our needs are out here.”
In addition to not addressing the growth in Plant City, Rendon clearly has an issue with how HCPS tracks financial data. “What is our cost per student station at each of our schools?” she said. “How much of that cost is leaving our schools and going into things that aren’t related to a school itself? I don’t have those answers, because the district can’t give me those answers. They can’t tell me how much it costs to run one school compared to another school. Finance has told me they do not have the program capacity within their software to give me those costs. I can’t approve anything without a cost analysis. That’s just not good business.”
The plan the School Board approved did include breaking ground in 2028 for a new high school in Plant City. HCPS has already acquired land for the 2,400-student campus on the west side of N. Park Rd. between Sam Allen Rd. and Wilder Rd.
