MIAMI -- After a two-day delay courtesy of Tropical Storm Fay, students across South Florida are heading back to school.

That means teachers in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties will be going back to work without their pay raises.

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While the Miami-Dade school board has yet to put together a final budget, Efrem Gilliam started putting together his first-grade classroom at the beginning of last week.

"My classroom is my home away from home. I'm in school more than I'm home," Gilliam told Local 10's Jen Herrera, while preparing to make his classroom "bright and vivid for the children."

Gilliam, who has been a teacher at Miami Shores Elementary for the past 13 years, said he often uses some of his own money to get his room ready. But with price increases and steep budget cuts, it was harder for him to do so this year.

A $5.5 billion tentative budget was voted on at the end of January. But that figure does not include the $72 million for raises that teachers were promised.

At Miami Shores Elementary, school supplies were handed out in smaller numbers. Some were left over from last year. Gilliam said he knows the children will also feel the effects of the budget cuts.

"The boys and girls are not at fault for the situation," he said. "We as teachers do what we have to, but it's still not good for us."

Broward County teachers are also fighting for raises. Last week, their union said they had reached an impasse with the school district.

The union asked for a 2 percent increase now and another 2 percent raise in January. But the school district offered only a 2 percent raise.