Around the state: A House subcommittee approves Speaker Daniel Perez's plan to cut the state sales tax from 6% to 5.25% and eliminate the back-to-school and other sales tax holidays, Senate and House committees pass their state budgets and will start reconciling the $4.4 billion difference after they're approved by the full chambers, a bill imposing term limits for school board members clears another committee, new rules for book challenges and students' use of cell phones during the school day advance in the House, and a new technical college opens in Hernando County. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Broward: Four staff members and two students at Whispering Pines Center in Miramar were treated by paramedics for light-headedness Wednesday after a student was found with a bag of pills on campus. The student who brought the pills will be disciplined. Sun Sentinel. Miami Herald. WFOR. A custodian at Indian Ridge Middle School in Davie has been arrested this week and accused of child pornography possession. Jaime Rivas was reassigned away from the school and students pending the results of the investigation. WPLG. WTVJ.
Sarasota: District officials say they plan to release a list of books that have been "deselected" based on a review of five criteria. "We don’t ban books," insisted assistant superintendent Rachel O’Dea. "We deselect them based on categories." She said some of the deselected books had been recommended by education companies, but were pulled to comply with Florida Department of Education policies. Charlotte Sun.
Leon: District officials are working on a policy that would allow students to use artificial intelligence for research assistance, data analysis, translation, grammar and spelling corrections, and to help students with disabilities. Teachers are already using AI for lesson plans. "We recognize that AI can be used in a positive manner, and it is something that our teachers and our students are going to have access to, and we support that," said Lewis Blessing, director of curriculum services. "We are still evaluating our decisions on what we will do if it gets adopted." Tallahassee Democrat.
Alachua: School board members have approved raising the district's reserve fund to 4.41%, which is still below the board's written goal of 5% but more than the 3% mandated by the state. "The idea is to get the fund balance to be above 5% and then continue to grow that," said Superintendent Kamela Patton. "We don’t want to sit at 5%. Things happen." Mainstreet Daily News. Gainesville Sun.
Hernando: A new technical college was officially opened this week in Brooksville. Wilton Simpson Technical College, named after Florida's agriculture commissioner, has instruction in such fields as nursing, cosmetology, welding, law enforcement and all the different trades. "We look at our community trends, we also look at needs and things that are emerging to try and be on the cutting edge of something that it is coming out," said Radiah Dent, the director of the college. Spectrum News 9.
Tax questions: A House proposal cutting the state sales tax from 6% to 5.25% would eliminate the back-to-school and other tax holidays that have been proposed for the 2025-2026 budget. The idea, proposed by House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, would be a $5.43 billion hit to Florida tax revenues. It was approved Wednesday by the House Ways & Means Committee, and it's competing against Gov. Ron DeSantis' wish to reduce property taxes. "Homestead property-tax relief targets or benefits only Floridians at this point, but not all Floridians," said state Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville. "Sales tax relief benefits all Floridians, plus some other people." News Service of Florida. WUSF. WFSU. Spectrum News 13.
Budget negotiations: Senate and House committees have approved their proposed state budgets, which differ by about $4.4 billion. Both budgets will go to the full chambers for a vote next week, and negotiations to reconcile the two spending plans will begin after that. News Service of Florida. Florida Phoenix. One budget item that has drawn intensive criticism is the plan to cut by half the amount public schools receive when their students complete advanced academic courses and career and technical programs. Tampa Bay Times. Politico Florida. WPEC.
Book removals: A proposal that would forbid school districts from considering a book’s serious literary, artistic, political and scientific value when deciding if it can remain on school bookshelves advanced Wednesday through the House Education Administration Subcommittee. Once a district receives a complaint about a book, it would have five school days to remove it. Districts that don't comply could have state funding withheld. Florida Politics.
Also in the Legislature: A proposal to limit school board members to eight years in office was approved Wednesday by the House Education Administration Subcommittee. If the bill gets through the Legislature, it would go on the 2026 ballot, where it would have to be approved by more than 60% of voters to be added to the state constitution. News Service of Florida. A bill banning students' use of cell phones during the school day passed through a committee and is now ready for a House vote. News Service of Florida. A House committee has approved a bill placing a 5% cap on the fees agents can charge athletes they represent on name, image, and likeness deals. Florida Politics. Another House committee has approved a measure paying $1.2 million to a man who suffered life-altering injuries in a 2006 accident with a Pasco County school bus. Florida Politics.
Mid-point malice: The first half of the legislative session has been marked with tension between Gov. Ron DeSantis and chamber leaders that is beginning to boil over. The governor is directing most of his ire at the House, which has bucked him on several issues. "What I’ve seen so far out of the Florida House of Representatives, they’re not trying to step on the left’s throat," DeSantis said. House members counter that the governor's administration is obstructing their attempts to be "good fiduciaries." Politico Florida. News Service of Florida. USA Today Florida Network.
Around the nation: Members of the U.S. Congress are talking about reintroducing whole and 2% milk in public school cafeterias for the first time since 2012. Those products were banned because they are higher in saturated fat and calories than lower-fat options. Associated Press.
Opinions on schools: Standardized testing isn’t perfect, and I am sympathetic to the argument that it can hamper teacher autonomy in the classroom. But there is evidence that without standardized testing, parents have little awareness of their children’s deficits, in part because of grade inflation — over the past few decades, test scores have gone down while grades have gone up. Jessica Grose, New York Times.
