More than half of responding Hillsborough parents choose virtual school, e-learning for upcoming school year

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – Hillsborough County parents have made their choices for the upcoming school year, and just over half opted for e-learning or virtual school for their kids.

The deadline for public school parents to submit their declaration of intent was extended until Sunday at midnight in hopes that parents would have enough time to make an informed decision on how their students would learn during the 2020-2021 school year.

A reopening survey was conducted in June and received 52,000 parent and guardian responses along with 9,000 staff responses. Nearly 53 percent of parents were okay with the district’s plan to return and nearly 52 percent of staff responses indicated they approved of the reopening plan.

Hillsborough County Schools Spokeswoman Erin Maloney said the school board received more than double the number of responses for the declarations of intent, but it was still just over half of the nearly 225,000 in the student population.

“We have a total of 110,418 responses as of today,” Maloney said Monday.

The results show 49.31% chose on-site learning for their kids. Just over half of parents chose either virtual learning or e-learning for their students: 41.94% selected e-learning while 8.75% chose virtual school.

Parents and guardians who didn’t submit their choice will default to in-person learning.

“It is important to note these may change slightly. We had some parents with password problems and we want to make sure we have their correct elections,” Maloney said. “But these are the final numbers for now.”

Hillsborough County Superintendent Addison Davis announced earlier this month masks will be required in school when it starts again. He recommended last week the start of school be pushed back at least two weeks. The school board is expected to vote on that recommendation later this week.