TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — Hillsborough County Public Schools is planning major student reassignments and school closures for the 2027-2028 school year.
Yet, parents and community advocates feel left out of the decision-making process.
WATCH: Multiple Hillsborough County schools are closing down in 2027; parents aren't on board
The district recently conducted a Spring 2026 Reassignment Study to address under-enrolled schools. District officials said consolidating resources, staff, and programs will improve operational efficiency and expand opportunities for students.
To help parents understand how their families may be impacted, here is a comprehensive breakdown of the proposed changes for the 2027-2028 school year. I have included the new boundary maps for all affected schools below.
Pizzo K-8
The district is proposing to close Pizzo K-8 due to rising lease costs with the University of South Florida.
The cost to lease the property has increased drastically over time:
- 1997 to 2008: $10 a year
- 2008 to 2024: $60,000 a year
- 2024 to 2034: $555,000 a year (with a 3% annual increase, an additional $25,000 a year for security, and a one-time parking fee of over $1 million)
Over the 10-year lease term, the total cost of the site would be approximately $8 million.
Under the plan, students in kindergarten through fifth grade will be reassigned to Lewis, Mort, Tampa Palms, Temple Terrace, and Witter elementary schools. Students in sixth through eighth grade will return to their zoned middle schools.
During public comment in Tuesday's school board meeting, parents requested the district keep the school open or relocate the entire student population to a single site together.
When visiting the school, I saw many signs advocating for it to remain open, such as "Keep Pizzo united," "Pizzo is a place of wonders," "Pizzo K-8 is great," "Keep us together," and "We love Pizzo."
Isabel Vargas, whose granddaughters attend Pizzo K-8, expressed concern about the reassignment and the impact on teachers.
"Yes, I'm concerned about what school they're gonna send them to because my closest school for my granddaughters is Mort, and that school is very small. There's a lot of kids in there, and there's no other school around," Vargas said. "And the other ones around us, I don't know, they're not really good."
When told about the $555,000 lease, Vargas said it was a lot of money but still worth the investment.
"But I really think that it's worth it because you have a lot of kids in here and they love the school, and I'm sure the teachers love it too," Vargas said.
She also worries about job security once Pizzo closes.
"Not only a concern for the kids, what about the teachers? What school they're gonna go to, where they're gonna teach? I'm sure that the majority of them is gonna be out of work," Vargas said.
During a recent school board meeting, Pizzo K-8 art teacher Anita Bloom pleaded with the board to stop rushing the process and consider moving the school's population as a single unit to an empty building, such as the Adams campus.
"Our family is being evicted," Bloom said. "Every possibility for success needs to be considered, including moving us as a unit."
Morgan Money, the 2025 valedictorian of Pizzo K-8, also asked the board to keep the school's community intact.
"If one kid, one teacher, and one book can change the world, imagine how a family of hundreds of kids and teachers with hundreds of books and pens can change the world if we get the opportunity to stay together," Money said.
Rachel, a parent of two students, said closing the school would disrupt the routines of students with special needs who rely on the school's Extended School Year programming.
"I know very well as a mom who has kids with IEPs and special needs in the classroom how important it is to remain consistent and keep routines," Rachel said.
Sulphur Springs K-8
Sulphur Springs K-8 will be reconfigured and returned to a traditional elementary school. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade will remain at the Sulphur Springs campus. Students in sixth through eighth grade will be reassigned to adjacent middle schools.
Parents have requested that the middle school students be moved together rather than split between three different middle school sites. They are also raising major safety concerns regarding how students will get to their new schools.
Joanna Cade, the PTSA president for Sulphur Springs, asked the district to provide busing for all reassigned students due to hazards in the community.
"The school bus field test will find that railroad tracks need to be crossed. Students will have to walk along the river, their ditches, and we even have a street with the speed limit of 45 mph," Cade said. "And not to mention the predators in our community. Yes, we have near abduction instances in our community."
Jacqueline Coffee Leeks, a Sulphur Springs resident and alumnus, echoed those concerns.
"For many of our students, walking to school is not a simple or safe option," Coffee Leeks said. "It can mean crossing high traffic corridors without adequate crossing guards or signals, walking through areas with inconsistent sidewalks, infrastructure, navigating places in the neighborhood where safety concerns are real and present."
Madison Middle School
Madison Middle School is currently operating at under 60% capacity.
Students living east of Dale Mabry Highway and north of State Road 60 will move to the new Stewart Middle Magnet School. The remaining Madison students will be reassigned to the Monroe campus.
Parents have requested the district maintain the STEM program at the new Monroe location and rename the school to rebrand it as a true community middle school.
Graham and Broward Elementary Schools
Both Graham and Broward elementary schools are currently operating at under 40% capacity.
The district plans to merge the attendance boundaries of both schools and assign all 647 students to Broward Elementary, which has a larger capacity.
Parents have expressed concerns about increased traffic due to the merger.
Young Middle Magnet School
Young Middle Magnet School is currently operating at 29.23% capacity.
The district plans to convert it into a community middle school by reassigning students from Jennings Middle School, Greco Middle Magnet, Sligh Middle Magnet, and Stewart Middle Magnet. This move will eliminate the satellite populations of Greco and Jennings.
Parents have requested the district keep the magnet program at Young Middle.
Doby Elementary School
While not part of the district's initial reassignment study, parents at Doby Elementary School are actively petitioning the board to convert their school into a K-8 campus. Parents cited safety concerns with sending their children to Eisenhower Middle School, which requires students to cross heavy traffic on Big Bend Road.
Community Pushback
The sweeping changes have drawn criticism from community advocates who argue the district is not listening to parents.
Gianny Hunt, co-founder of the advocacy group Magnified Voices, attended the board meeting and criticized the lack of transparency.
"I mean, we had no choice but to speak out, because this was a missed opportunity from the board, from the superintendent, from the cabinet that supports him, and, you know, just overall, in my opinion, a failure to the community," Hunt said.
Sierra Sizemore, a community advocate and former Hillsborough County student, said parents are tired of empty promises.
"All they want is clear communication, protection for their children, protection for their children's stability, protection for their children throughout transportation, and protection for their children's education," Sizemore said.
Hunt said the push for school choice and the resulting reassignments often leave Black, brown, and low-income students behind because of unspoken costs and logistical hurdles, such as transportation.
"We're selling this dream about school choice and charter schools, but really, a lot of parents get bamboozled because they put their kids in there, and then they realize that there's a cost to it," Hunt said.
During the meeting, Board Member Jessica Vaughn motioned to table the Pizzo K-8 decision, arguing the process was rushed and the district should explore using empty buildings to keep the school community intact. Hunt praised Vaughn for validating the community's concerns.
"We were feeling like it was a hasty decision, that it was a rushed decision, that there, you know, we were lacking transparency," Hunt said.
Moving forward, Hunt said her organization plans to hold the district accountable for the promises made to impacted communities, particularly in Sulphur Springs.
"You know, we are definitely gonna hold them to that, and anybody who does not follow through, we're going to make sure that it is, it is known that they didn't follow through on this, and that this is a underserved and overlooked community," Hunt said.
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