Although the November elections didnโt go too well for other New Tampa residents โ with Jim Davison (Hillsborough County Commission) and Rico Smith (State House of Representatives) both losing, Tampa Palms residents Jessica Vaughn (New Tampaโs District 3) and Karen Perez (countywide District 6) not only won reelection in their respective Hillsborough School Board races in August, they have now been named the Boardโs chair and vice-chair, respectively.
Vaughn says this is big news for our area, as New Tampa has never held the Boardโs top two spots before. โKaren already has been a District-wide member, so she has had to have a more โglobalโ perspective and be more all over the county,โ Vaughn says, โbut now, as the chair, I also have to be more involved District-wide, even though Iโm still the District 3 member. It means a lot more work, but Iโm ready.โ
Vaughn and Perez were elected as the new leaders on Nov. 19, at the Boardโs annual reorganization meeting.
Vaughn says she already has been hard at work, โtrying to put resources into schools which havenโt always had resources.โ She says that among the schools she has been pushing for are Freedom High, Turner-Bartels K-8 School and upgrades for Benito and Liberty middle schools. โI have been working closely with Liberty principal Frank Diaz to get him the resources he needs,โ Vaughn says.
She says that a hot-button issue right now is the possible expansion of middle school sports programs. โOur residents want sports like lacrosse and tackle football with full equipment in middle schools,โ she says. โBut, these are expensive sports and there may not be enough money in our budget to make them work at the middle school level. I support the idea but I donโt know if the Board will support the funding for it.โ
Speaking of the budget, Vaughn says she is โso thankfulโ that Hillsborough County voters overwhelmingly (with more than 66% of voters voting โYesโ) passed the millage increase to increase salaries for teachers and staff members. โThat was huge for us, so our teacher and staff salaries can become more competitive with other large districts,โ she said.
Although Vaughn didnโt know exactly when the additional funds would begin showing up in paychecks, because the District is currently without a Chief Financial Officer (former CFO Romaneir Johnson took the same position with Broward County Schools), โbut weโre hoping to have a new CFO in place by Jan. 1.โ
Vaughn also was happy that Hillsborough voters decided to renew the half-cent Community Investment Tax (CIT), so the District also will continue to have funds for capital outlays like improvements at District schools.
โIโm also thrilled that voters across Florida voted against making School Board races partisan,โ she says. โIt seems that people really want politics out of education.โ
Speaking of partisan politics, Vaughn says she was relieved to have won reelection following a negative campaign spearheaded by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and her opponent, Myosha Powell, who accused Vaughn of being a โcivil servant who thinks that weโre her subjects.โ Vaughn was reelected with about 59% of ballots cast, as all four incumbents running for reelection ended up holding onto their seats. โIโm proud to have support across the aisle,โ she says.
Montessori & TOY News
Another issue Vaughn is working on is converting Heritage Elementary on Cross Creek Blvd. into a Montessori school, beginning with one grade and adding an additional grade every year.
โItโs working well at Essrig Elementary (near Citrus Park,โ she says. โThe community seems to like it and a lot of people are choosing private Montessoris over public schools these days. Weโre losing families in New Tampa and Temple Terrace to it.โ The only issue, she says, is that Montessori education doesnโt always translate well to standardized tests.โ
And, while the finalists werenโt announced until after we went to press with this issue, Vaughn says New Tampa and Dist. 3 have, โthe most finalistsโ for Teacher of the Year and the other Hillsborough Education Foundation awards.