Hernando’s Jaime Suarez named state teacher of the year, school tax ‘holiday’ begins Monday, and more

Teacher of year: A Hernando County math teacher was announced Thursday night as the state’s 2025 teacher of the year. Jaime Suarez of the Challenger K-8 School of Science and Mathematics in Spring Hill wins $50,000, will sbe the Christa McAuliffe ambassador for education for a year, and receives a tuition waiver to pursue a graduate degree from Florida State University and a two-year Florida College scholarship to present to a student of her choice. The other finalists were Clayton Nylund of Hillsborough County, Jennifer Brown of Marion, Heather Stewart of Walton, and Samantha Nelson of the Florida State University School in Leon. Each was awarded $20,000. Florida Department of Education.

Back-to-school tax ‘holiday’: Florida’s annual back-to-school tax “holiday” begins Monday and continues through Aug. 11. Items that are tax-exempt in this two-week period include personal computers or accessories costing less than $1,500, clothing that costs less than $100 per item, school supplies with a price of $50 or less per item, learning aids and jigsaw puzzles costing less than $30 apiece, and more. This will be the only tax-exempt period this year specifically for school items. News Service of Florida. WKMG. Pensacola News Journal. USA Today Florida Network. Spectrum News 9. WTVT.

Around the state: A judge orders Hillsborough county commissioners to respond by today to a civil suit filed by the school board over the commission’s decision to delay a school tax from getting placed on a ballot until 2026, more than 1,000 Duval County middle- and high-schoolers will have to find a new way to school after the district ends busing for those who live within 2 miles of their schools, Lake teachers will be required to wear badges with panic alert buttons when schools reopen, Charlotte students will have a new card this year that they’ll use to digitally sign in everywhere they go at school, and a Seminole school for autistic children closes unexpectedly this week. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:

Hillsborough, Tampa Bay area: Hillsborough county commissioners were ordered by a circuit judge to answer, by today, the school board’s civil lawsuit over the commission’s decision to delay placing a school property tax measure on the ballot until 2026. School leaders wanted it before voters this November. July 30 is the deadline for the school board to respond to the commission, and the deadline to have the question placed on the ballot is Aug. 20. WFLA. While Pinellas and Pasco report fewer teaching jobs to fill this year than in previous years, Hillsborough has more than 500 openings, which is more than it had at this time last year. Tampa Bay Times.

Duval: About 1,100 middle and high school students will have to find new ways to get to schools when classes resume Aug. 12 after the school board decided this week to no longer provide bus rides to those who live less than 2 miles from their schools. A budget shortfall was cited for the decision. “There are going to be hard decisions,” said board member Cindy Pearson. “We were just talking about school closures, that’s part of the conversation. Transportation is part of the conversation as well.” WTLV. Jacksonville Today. For the second time this week, just one of the two candidates for a school board race appeared at a community forum. This time it was the District 1 race, where Nadine Ebri was present and answered questions from the audience after Tony Ricardo canceled because he was sick. Jacksonville Today. WJXT.

Polk: All 511 school district buses have been outfitted with cameras that will start recording when the bus’ stop arm is extended to detect drivers who pass illegally, and they will be operational when schools open Aug. 12. Warnings will be issued to violators until Sept. 24, when citations for $198 will be issued through the mail. About 50,000 students ride the buses every day. Lakeland Ledger. Lakeland Now. School board members approved a timeline for replacing retiring school board attorney Wes Bridges, who has been advising the board for 26 years. The job will be posted by the end of the month, a list of qualified candidates will be reviewed by mid-August, and interviews will be held in late August or early September. Lakeland Ledger.

Seminole: A school for autistic children closed unexpectedly this week, leaving parents little time to make other arrangements for their children. Blossoms Academy and owners Vanessa and Justin Kindy announced the closure after being hit with two liens totaling $1.7 million from the IRS for unpaid taxes dating back to the founding of the school. WFTV.

Manatee: Former school board member James Golden is asking an appeals court to consider whether Supervisor of Elections James Satcher should be ordered to schedule a special election to fill the board seat of Rich Tatem. Tatem resigned May 30 to run for a state House seat, but his resignation doesn’t take effect until Nov. 6. That timing allows Gov. Ron DeSantis to appoint Tatem’s replacement to fill the rest of his term, which ends in November 2026. Golden sued, alleging that Satcher had failed to follow his duty to hold a special election. A circuit court dismissed the case July 3. Florida Politics.

Lake: Teachers will be required to wear a panic alert badges this school year that will directly notify the sheriff’s department when there’s an emergency. The previous alert system required at least four steps to contact 911. “The goal is to reduce minutes, reduce seconds in response time so that a threat can be eliminated as quickly as possible,” said Joseph Mabry, district director of safety and security. WOFL. WESH.

Collier: Candidates for the District 4 school board seat, incumbent Erick Carter and Tom Henning, a former county commissioner and fire commissioner, answer questions about the district’s technical education programs, teacher retention, book challenges, volunteer chaplains and more. The primary is Aug. 20. Naples Daily News.

Martin: District 2 incumbent school board member Marsha Powers and her opponent, Sydney Thomas, talk about why they’re running in the Aug. 20 primary, their priorities, what they consider the top campaign issues and more. TCPalm.

Charlotte: District officials are giving students an ID card for the coming school year that includes a bar code and functions as a digital pass. Students will scan the card, called SmartPass, on an electronic reader in every classroom, allowing the district to track students’ locations and even alert them if students are spending too much time out of class. District officials expect the card to help cut down on vaping. WINK.

Flagler: An 11-year-old boy who lives in Henrico, Va., has been arrested and accused of making a series of fake threatening calls to Flagler schools in May. He called 21 schools between May 14 and 22, and claimed bombs had been placed in schools, or he was going to commit a mass shooting, or he had just shot a teacher or student. In each case, authorities had to respond, and the boy told deputies every news report about the calls was like a trophy to him. Associated Press. Daytona Beach News-Journal. Flagler Live. WKMG. WFTV. WESH.

Colleges and universities: As Florida Atlantic University prepares to begin its second search for a new president, lawyer and former New College trustee Robert Allen, who is on the search committee, warned that posting the job in publications focused on women or diversity would be inconsistent with state policy. Florida Phoenix. Gov. DeSantis called on states to regulate name, image and likeness and the NCAA transfer portal, saying Congress is incapable of acting. He also delved into college football, saying Florida needs to keep its best recruits in state because, “We just need them (state universities) to be No. 1 in football again.” Tampa Bay Times.

More on school grades: Here are additional or updated reports on school and district grades from around the state. To access data on specific schools and districts, click on this link and then click on the school grades and district grades links. Broward. Hillsborough. Palm Beach. Duval. Polk. Lee. Pinellas. Pasco. Osceola. Brevard. Volusia. Manatee. St. Johns. Lake. Sarasota. Clay. Escambia. Okaloosa. Leon. Hernando. Citrus. Flagler. Nassau. Walton. Sumter. Baker. Florida Department of Education.

Around the nation: Vice President Kamala Harris called teachers “visionaries” who “all do God’s work” during a speech Thursday at the American Federation of Teacher’s national convention in Houston. It was her first address since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. She offered no new education initiatives, but contrasted positions between Democrats and Republicans on such issues as funding, restrictions on what teachers may talk about in classes, book restrictions and removals from schools, and more. Associated Press. Education Week. Chalkbeat. Florida Phoenix.


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BY NextSteps staff

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