Together, We Have A Stronger Voice.
The Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association (HCTA) is a local labor union located in Tampa, FL representing teachers and educational support personnel with the Hillsborough County School District.
Hillsborough County is the eighth largest school district in the United States with over 250 K-12 schools serving almost 200,000 students with approximately 16,000 teachers and 4,500 educational support personnel. HCTA has a long history of constructive labor management relations with the school district and is affiliated with the Florida Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.
Doing Together What One Person Cannot Do Alone!
HCTA is dedicated to being an effective advocate for education professionals in Hillsborough County, to strengthen support for their professional work and development, and to support efforts to ensure that every child in Hillsborough County has access to an excellent public education.
A Brief History
HCTA started out as the committee representing teacher concerns within the Hillsborough County Education Foundation that was founded in 1921. In 1965, HCTA broke away from HCEA; some teachers remained affiliated with HCEA and others made the move with HCTA. However, by 1967 all of the teachers that had remained with HCEA merged into HCTA. At the same time a new association, HASA, was formed to represent administrators.
In 1968, the HCTA supported the Florida Education Association’s call for a state-wide teacher strike in support of more education funding and collective bargaining rights for teachers. Though the labor action was seemingly unsuccessful in the short term, it eventually set the stage for better salaries and better relations between teachers and the state.
In 1969, Hillsborough county became the only district in the state with professional negotiations by law, empowering “the School Board to recognize and negotiate with the organization which represents the majority of Hillsborough’s classroom teachers” – the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association. In 1977, HCTA began negotiating a contract for teacher aides and in 1984 they also ratified a contract for clerical employees.
Over the years since then, HCTA has continued to be an effective negotiator on behalf of educators in Hillsborough county. Some of the key changes HCTA has brought about are: benefits packages that include life and health insurance, duty free lunch, personal leave days, eliminating the requirement for pregnant teachers to resign or take a leave 60 days prior to the birth, and the creation of the sick leave bank. And, believe it or not, one of the changes HCTA brought about, in the early 1970s, was allowing female teachers to wear pantsuits instead of a dress or skirt.