The school year started this week for public school students across Florida.
Districts in the greater Tampa Bay region are seeing fewer teacher and bus driver vacancies than in the past.
Despite teachers being under close scrutiny by the state and average pay being the lowest in the country, the districts are working to fill the empty spots.
Here is a county-by-county snapshot.
Pinellas County
Pinellas schools have a surplus of bus drivers and only 24 teacher vacancies at the start of this school year.
At this time last year, the district also did not have any bus driver vacancies and 69 teacher vacancies.
President of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, Lee Bryant, said the improvement is due to several reasons.
The county’s declining student population means the district needs fewer teachers.
"We're an A district, people don't want to leave, we're getting paid fairly well and the declining population all factor into it,” Bryant added.
But he said some factors still make it difficult for Florida schools to find teachers.
"Part of it is the social pressures of teaching, more and more scrutiny being put on us by outside forces, by outside organizations,” Bryant said.
Hillsborough County
Hillsborough schools spokesperson Debra Bellanti said her district has fewer vacancies at the start of this school year because of recruiting efforts and a millage referendum that passed last year.
County voters approved two bumps in taxes during November’s election. Revenue from both will go toward public schools, but only the millage tax will fund teacher salaries.
The district has just under 50 bus driver spots open, which is 100 fewer than what it had at the start of last school year.
There are less than 430 teacher roles unfilled, but Bellanti said this number could go down later in the school year. Last year, the county started with around 600 teacher vacancies.
Manatee County
While Manatee still has a few more vacancies than last year, the district opened two new schools, which created over 80 positions.
“The district's team is working diligently to fill vacancies with quality candidates, and these numbers reflect that commitment,” Manatee schools spokesperson Jamie Carson said in an email.
Across the county, there are 44 teacher openings; two weeks ago, there were 75.
While the district needs 11 more bus drivers, Carson said all routes are being covered.
Hernando County
There are 88 unfilled teacher roles in Hernando, but 47 are being filled by the county’s Associate Teacher Substitute Program.
The district is actively searching for part-time and substitute bus drivers, but is able to cover all routes. A spokesperson for the district said more drivers will be available next week.
Pasco County
The number of classroom vacancies in Pasco County has declined over the last few years as well.
This year, the district is starting the school year with 73 open teaching spots. In 2024, the district started with 105 openings and had 212 openings in 2023.
Sarasota and Polk County schools did not provide numbers at the time of publication.
