Our history
Hillsborough Public School Advocates is a grassroots group formed to educate, equip, and empower parents, teachers, and community members to advocate for public education in Hillsborough County. We formed late one evening after learning about a round of teacher cuts in our county. We started as a Facebook group and grew to over 4,000 members in less than a week. HPSA became a committee under Florida Collaboration Project Foundation our parent 501c3. Since April we have successfully advocated for the release of ESSER funds, advocated for the creation of a Financial Advisory Committee, and engaged countless parents in this important work.
Our mission
Hillsborough Public School Advocates exists to advocate for fully funding traditional public schools. We accomplish this by reviewing local school board budget/agendas, tracking relevant legislation, the state budget, and actively engaging members in advocacy efforts. A poorly funded public education system naturally creates inequity. All students deserve equal access to a high quality public education.
HPSA Committee Leadership
Jessica Dubois
Jessica DuBois is the chair of Hillsborough Public School Advocates. She is a long-time supporter of education having supported and built a Children’s Liturgy program at her local church, volunteers for Year Up locally, providing mentorship to early in career students. She has 3 children of her own and wants to build a sustainable quality education system for the state of Florida.
Paula Castano
Paula Castano did undergraduate work in educational research and has a M.Ed. She was a public school teacher in a district that was in a 20 year state takeover, as well as a district that was well-funded. She is passionate about equitable funding for all students.She also has a background in the Counterterrorism Division at the FBI and is co-founder of Hillsborough Public School Advocates.
Patricia W. Hall
Pat is a retired high school teacher and vocational department head from Hillsborough County Schools. She has a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science from Florida State University. As the only teacher to have been selected by the Tampa Chamber of Commerce for “Leadership Tampa” she served concurrently as President of the League of Women Voters of Hillsborough County initiating televised forums and debates with many prospective candidates. Working with the state LWV our local league began looking at and studying the business practices of “for profit managed” charter schools. Her grown children reside in Denver and Washington D.C.