Around the state: Bills filed for the legislative session would allow students to take standardized tests in their native languages, a Brevard school board member is proposing to start meetings with a prayer, Hialeah officials have approved the expansion of a charter school into a city park, Alachua’s interim superintendent agrees to extend her contract another year, the Florida Board of Education tables the renewal of a contract for a company that helps administer state K-12 scholarships, and the BOE gives three struggling schools in the Pasco, Escambia and Bay school districts another year to bring their school grade to a C or better. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Miami-Dade: Part of a Hialeah city park is being turned over to a charter school for an expansion. The city’s Hialeah Educational Academy will add a gymnasium, turf field, track, soccer pitch, pickleball courts and additional parking on the western portion of Slade Park. Miami Herald. School calendars for the next two years have been approved by the school board. Classes begin Aug. 14 and end June 4 for 2025-2026, and start Aug. 13 and end June 3 in 2026-2027. Miami Herald.
Hillsborough: Two of the half-dozen schools the district has closed in the past two years will reopen in 2027 after being rebuilt, while the others are being repurposed into office space or storage. Tampa Bay Times.
Orange: A student’s mother is suing the school board, alleging that her 9-year-old son was sexually assaulted in a bathroom at Chickasaw Elementary School in 2022. WKMG. WOFL.
Palm Beach: School boundary changes will cut the number of students attending a new elementary school in the Arden community when it opens in the fall to relieve overcrowding at Binks Forest Elementary. Fifty-five students in three communities will stay in their current schools, putting enrollment in the new school at 613. Palm Beach Post. The village of Wellington has agreed to sell a 70-acre parcel for about $47 million to a private school from Singapore and a West Palm Beach developer. Education in Motion, a network of 14 international private schools, will build its first U.S. campus on its half of the land. Palm Beach Post. WPTV.
Duval: A district plan to save money by changing school schedules would cut teachers’ planning time and force them to work more at home, they claimed at a town hall this week. District officials said a final decision on the changes has not been made. Other suggestions being considered are secondary bell schedule changes, magnet transportation reduction, a cutback in duplicated services and instructional resources, and school consolidations. More town hall meetings are scheduled Jan. 21, 23 and 28. WTLV. Florida Times-Union. The district is considering four options to comply with a state law that requires later start times for middle and high schools starting in the fall of 2026. Jacksonville Today. WTLV.
Pasco: Cox Elementary School was given one more year to change the D grades it’s received from the state since 2019. After the school district revised its previously submitted turnaround plan to include hiring an outside consulting firm and creating an administrative division to focus on struggling schools, the Florida Board of Education approved an extension request. If Cox doesn’t get a C in 2026, it could be closed or taken over by an outside company. Tampa Bay Times.
Brevard: School board member John Thomas’ proposition to start every board meeting with a prayer has support among his colleagues and will be discussed at a future workshop meeting. Thomas says a prayer would set an example by showing students “how to approach leadership with respect, inclusiveness, and a deep commitment to the ethics and values that bind us together as a community.” Florida Today. Goals ranging from improving career and technical education opportunities to tweaking public comment policy and how student expulsions work were topics for discussions at this week’s school board workshop. Florida Today. The chair of the Volusia Moms for Liberty chapter is calling for school board member Jessie Thompson to resign or be removed after making controversial remarks at a summit for the organization last year. Thompson has rejected Jenifer Kelly’s demand. Florida Today.
Lake: Police say a ninth grader at Leesburg High School was arrested Thursday after the K-9 deputy Samba sniffed out a loaded firearm in a backpack during a scheduled visit to the school’s media room. WKMG. WESH. Orlando Sentinel.
Sarasota: School board members agreed this week to continue considering whether students should have access to their cell phones during the school day. Bridget Ziegler is an advocate for a ban, while some of her colleagues like being able to contact their children during the school day. The board also approved a five-year, billion-dollar plan to renovate facilities and released a shortlist of potential K-12 science textbooks. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Escambia: Warrington Preparatory Academy charter school has been given one more year to improve its state grade from a D before facing closure, the state Board of Education decided this week. The school had been in the final year of a state-ordered turnaround program. WEAR.
Leon: An invitation for an education choice supporter to speak at this week’s school board meeting began amicably but turned contentious. Board chair Laurie Lawson Cox, the sole registered Republican on the board, asked Bill Mattox, a senior director at the conservative James Madison Institute think tank, to speak to the board to offer “a different perspective.” Tallahassee Democrat.
Santa Rosa: A deputy’s search of a car at Jay High School this week uncovered a weapon and drugs and led to the arrest of a student. WEAR.
Alachua: Interim superintendent Kamela Patton agreed this week to extend her contract by a year, through June 2026, to give the school board more time to fill the position on a permanent basis. She was appointed in November 2024 after the school board fired Shane Andrew. Patton did tell the board she would not agree to further extensions. Gainesville Sun. Mainstreet Daily News. The private Frazer School announced this week that it is leasing a nearby building to add students in kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades to the existing enrollment in grades 3-12. Mainstreet Daily News.
Bay: Cedar Grove Elementary School’s turnaround plan has been granted another year to get the school up to a C grade from the state. The Board of Education approved the request after reviewing the plan and results so far, which include an improvement in the school’s grade from an F to a D. WMBB. Plans to renovate Mowat Middle School are underway. Projects include building a new cafeteria and turning an old administration building into a music suite. WMBB. WJHG.
Walton: South Walton Academy has reopened after briefly closing because of financial issues. School officials say a delay in payments due to the rapid expansion of the state’s scholarship programs put them behind financially, and they’re trying to catch up even as the funding is current. WMBB.
Putnam: The school district improved its graduation rate to a record 91.2% in 2024, a jump of 2.3 percentage points, and remains above the state average of 89.7%. Putnam County School District. Kelley Smith Elementary School will become Palatka Primary School by the 2027-2028 school year and will enroll nearly all the city’s students in pre-K through 2nd grade, district officials announced this week. In the 2026-2027 academic year, Palatka Intermediate School will open for students in grades 3-6 at the site of the former E.H. Miller School. Palatka Daily News.
Monroe: The district’s high school graduation rate declined from 89% in 2023 to 86.9% in 2024, according to data from the state, and is below the state average of 89.7%. Key West Citizen.
Levy: A former cheerleading coach at Chiefland Middle-High School has been arrested and accused of stealing $11,000 from the team. Megan Del Castillo, 34, moved from the area when the audit began in December 2023, and she was arrested in Highlands County. WCJB.
Colleges and universities: The number of general education courses counting toward college graduation has been cut by 57% by the state’s Board of Education. Pruning was done under a systemwide review of courses that “distort significant historical events” or teach “identity politics,” as identified in state law. Politico Florida.
Scholarship administration: Florida’s Board of Education tabled the renewal of a contract with AAA to help administer the state’s K-12 scholarships this week after the group’s CEO said she wasn’t comfortable authorizing payments for some items that are categorized as instructional materials. Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. fired back at Kim Dyson’s reluctance, asserting, “If the parent is okay with (Florida Virtual School’s course cost) and that is the service they choose, it is your job to pay it. It is not your job to question the board of Florida Virtual.” AAA’s contract will be revisited at the next meeting. The board did renew the contract of Step Up for Students, which administers most of the state scholarships and hosts this blog. Tampa Bay Times.
FLVS graduation rates: Florida Virtual School’s 2024 graduation rate of 96.6% was the highest of any state school district with more than 1,000 students. It was also an increase of 4 percentage points from 2023. Florida Virtual School.
In the Legislature: Students who speak English as a second language could take standardized tests in their native language under bills filed for the 60-day legislative session that begins March 4. SB 260 and HB 159 would make tests available in the three foreign languages most used in Florida by the 2027-2028 school year. Florida Politics.
Opinions on schools: There are several mysteries in the Florida Department of Education’s list of high demand teachers needs areas. Paul Cottle, Bridge to Tomorrow. To truly empower parents, Florida should provide private schools the same zoning flexibilities that public schools receive, and pass a statewide preemption allowing small schools to open regardless of local zoning restrictions. Danny Aqua, Florida Politics.