Around the state: Bills are filed for the legislative session that would impose term limits for school board members and study the feasibility of eliminating the property taxes that help fund schools, an alternative high school in Pinellas County is being closed, the Miami-Dade district is putting vaping sensors in the bathrooms at every public high school, Martin’s school board eliminates health insurance subsidies for future retirees, and a $7 million federal grant helping Clay County combat a teacher shortage is eliminated. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Miami-Dade: Vaping sensors are being installed in every bathroom at every county public high school. “Making sure our students are safe from the dangers of vaping in our schools is essential,” said Superintendent Jose Dotres. Islander. A former teacher at Horace Mann Middle School in El Portal agreed to plead guilty to guilty to offenses against students by authority figures and was sentenced to 12 years of probation for having inappropriate contact with a 12-year-old student in 2023. Martai McCullough Jr., 27, agreed to the plea after prosecutors dropped four charges, including two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child. WTVJ.
Broward: A social science teacher at J.P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs was arrested Tuesday and accused of sending inappropriate sexual messages to a junior at the school. Lem McKinney, 40, has been reassigned away from the school and students pending the outcome of the investigation. WSVN. WTVJ.
Hillsborough: St. Peter Claver Catholic School will become the first Catholic microschool in the state next fall, according to principal John Davidson. “There will be more personalized learning experiences,” he said, “and the smaller class sizes will strengthen the student-teacher relationships and foster creativity, critical thinking, and we’ll be able to integrate technology and real world experiences.” The Tampa school opened 131 years ago to educate black students. Spectrum News 9. An 18-year-old Sumner High School student was arrested Tuesday and accused of having a loaded gun in his vehicle parked in a school lot. WFLA.
Pinellas: A Clearwater alternative school where students can recover credits is closing, Superintendent Kevin Hendrick announced Tuesday. Pinellas Gulf Coast Academy’s 220 students can either return to their zoned high schools or attend Pinellas High Innovation or Bayside High, beginning in July. Enrollment is down, Hendrick said, and Pinellas Gulf Coast is “not in great shape.” Tampa Bay Times. School officials estimate they incurred $45 million in expenses during hurricanes Helene and Milton, but expect to recoup most of that cost from FEMA. Tampa Bay Times.
Sarasota: In the first month that speed detection cameras were placed in school zones around Tuttle Elementary and Cardinal Mooney High in Sarasota, more than 4,400 tickets were issued to drivers going more than 11 mph over the posted speed limits. WFLA.
Clay: A $7 million federal grant to help Clay and other north Florida school districts address the teacher shortage has been defunded. The grant was headed to the University of North Florida, but was among the $600 million in programs cut this week by the Trump administration. The grant was approved in 2022 and was supposed to run through 2027. WJAX.
Escambia: A third district elementary is adding 6th-graders in the fall. Longleaf Elementary joins Cordova Park and West Pensacola elementaries as part of a new pilot program. A 7th grade will be added at Longleaf in the fall of 2026, and an 8th grade the following year. Pensacola News Journal.
Alachua: A district memo advises school administrators how to deal with immigration officials who show up at schools and want to interview or remove students. Officials should request identification from the immigration officers and copies of warrants, ask permission to notify a student’s parents, request to be present during the interview of the student, and ask that the officers complete a release form if a student is taken from campus. But the memo also says law enforcement officers do not have to comply with the requests. Gainesville Sun.
Martin: School workers who are already retired or are doing so before July 1 will keep health insurance subsidies, but those subsidies are being eliminated for employees who are 65 or older and do not retire before July 1, school board members decided Tuesday. Eliminating those subsidies will save the district more than $900,000. TCPalm.
Jackson: Superintendent Hunter Nolen said the district has plans to implement a Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps program in one of the district’s high school by next fall. “I’ve been a principal at a couple of different schools, and I just always thought that it would be something beneficial for not only our district, but our students,” he said. WMMB.
Colleges and universities: Schools have 14 days to end all diversity initiatives or risk losing federal funding, the Trump administration has announced. Racial preferences will not be allowed in in admissions, financial aid, hiring or other areas. It will also be unlawful for colleges to end standardized testing requirements such as the SAT or ACT “to achieve a desired racial balance or to increase racial diversity.” Associated Press. Florida Phoenix.
School board term limits: A proposed constitutional amendment was filed Tuesday that would impose eight-year term limits on school board members. If the bill is approved, it would go before voters in 2026 and require more than 60% approval to be enacted. The 60-day legislative session begins March 4. News Service of Florida. Florida Phoenix. Florida Politics.
Also in the Legislature: A bill filed in the Legislature on Tuesday would authorize a study to determine the feasibility of ending local property taxes, which provide about half of the funding for schools, in favor of consumption-based taxes. News Service of Florida. Another bill that would help autistic people find work won the unanimous approval of the Senate Committee on Education PreK-12 on Tuesday. Florida’s Department of Education would create a certification process for employers to verify the capabilities of students and prove they can be safe on the job. Florida Phoenix. Anyone with a gun permit could openly carry a weapon on the state’s college and university campuses under a bill filed Tuesday. Space Coast Daily. A bill that would give high-performing charter schools more flexibility and autonomy in creating new schools was also filed. Florida Politics.
Opinions on schools: The United States has a costly, inefficient and relatively extractive system of public education. If you are curious about who the extractive elites benefiting from the status quo might be, simply observe who fights to preserve the system. Matthew Ladner, NextSteps. The still-growing budget for school choice vouchers is surely competing for money with ideas for initiatives to improve student learning, and the voucher budget is winning. Paul Cottle, Bridge to Tomorrow. In Florida and other states, students can be performing “on grade level” without meeting the state’s “proficient” standard in the subject they’re studying. Lower standards like that are a factor in the misalignment between NAEP and state assessment results. Thomas Toch and Bella DiMarco, The 74.
