Around the state: An education bill is being expanded to encompass several other bills, a bill requiring schools to display the slogan “In God We Trust” advances through a House committee, classes resume today at Florida State University after two were shot to death in the student union last Thursday, Miami-Dade schools announce their principal and assistant principal of the year, and Marion’s school board selects a district administrator as interim superintendent. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Miami-Dade: Walter Hall, from the Leisure City K-8 Center, has been named the school district’s principal of the year, and Melissa Miller of Frederick Douglass Elementary School is the assistant principal of the year. WPLG. Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said last week that the school bus camera program is being suspended due to errors in ticketing and the inability of cited drivers to appeal their $225 citations. Miami Herald. WTVJ. WFOR.
Orange: The Legislature’s move to cut the funding paid to schools to cover the costs of advanced testing will disproportionately affect students from low-income families, say district officials who estimate they’ll lose $17 million if the bill is approved and signed into law. Orlando Sentinel.
Palm Beach: Two Wellington High School students were arrested last week and accused of having bullets on the campus. No weapon for the bullets was discovered. WPBF.
Polk: Bartow High School’s head football coach has been arrested and accused of lewd offense against a student by an authority figure, and lewd and lascivious touching of a minor and voyeurism. Deputies said Tyler Eden, 31, acted inappropriately with several female students. “He has been relieved of his duties and will have no further involvement with students,” said district spokesman Kyle Kennedy. Lakeland Ledger. WKMG. WFTS. Spectrum News 9.
Osceola: A bus attendant was arrested last week and accused of grabbing and kissing several young girls as they were being dropped off at Neptune Elementary School in St. Cloud. Police said Brian Louis has been charged with battery, and district officials said Louis has been fired. WESH.
Marion: Danielle Brewer, the school district’s senior executive director of high schools and secondary curriculum, has been chosen by the school board as the interim superintendent. Superintendent Diane Gullett’s last day is July 11, and Brewer will work with her through the transition. Ocala Star Banner. WCJB. A 13-year-old Horizon Academy student was arrested last week and accused of having a machete on campus. A resource officer found the weapon in the boy’s backpack. The boy said he brought it to school as a joke. WCJB.
Alachua: The process of converting Newberry Elementary School from a public school to a charter is moving from the decision to implementation. District officials are working on a contract to present to school organizers, which will be followed by identifying a school operator and getting the contract approved. Lynn Norman-Teck, executive director of the Florida Charter School Alliance, says after that, the burden is on the organizers to make the conversion a success. “Whoever’s driving that conversion has to sell it,” she said. “They have to define their mission and meet their goals.” WUFT.
Santa Rosa: School officials are considering a proposal to make W.H. Rhodes Elementary School in Milton the district’s first community partnership school, which combines education, health care and social services in the school through a partnership of the district and a health-care provider, nonprofit and university. Pensacola News Journal.
Colleges and universities: Classes resume today at Florida State University, where two people were killed and six others wounded Thursday by a gunman in the student union. But school officials said mandatory attendance policies have been waived, and students have options that include online learning. “For some students that may mean not going back into the classroom,” FSU President Richard McCullough wrote in a note to students, teachers and staff. “For others, the idea of community and gathering, as well as the opportunity to focus on academics, may be beneficial.” Tallahassee Democrat. Associated Press. Miami Herald. Politico Florida. WOFL.
Education bill revisions: Legislative leaders have begun to reshape and expand a proposed bill that would pack a variety of education-related bills into a single measure, HB 1267. It began as a 9-page piece of legislation focusing on the expansion of schools of hope, but has drawn in other bills that would limit school board members to eight-year terms, align school grading to student grading, restore the authority of the Board of Governors to grant the final hiring approval for university presidents, make amendments to the New Worlds Reading Initiative, and create incentives for to recruit and retain teachers in rural communities. It’s now ready for a House vote. Tampa Bay Times. Politico Florida.
Also in the Legislature: A bill that would require schools to prominently display the slogan “In God We Trust” advanced through a committee and is now headed to a vote on the House floor. Florida Politics. The “literary, artistic, political or scientific value” of a book challenged for sexual content could not be considered under a bill that cleared a House committee. Florida Politics. A House committee approved an update to the school security law that would tweak school guard training and the rules for locking school doors and gates. Tampa Bay Times. A relaxation of work rules for teenagers was approved by a House committee. Florida Politics.
FLVS, UF, Algebra and AI: Florida Virtual School is partnering with the University of Florida to offer an artificial intelligence in math supplemental certification program for algebra 1 students in middle and high school. More than 180 students who are home-schooled or attend public schools are taking the course, which is a requirement for graduation. Education Week.
Around the nation: Annual National Assessment of Educational Progress testing will continue in 2026, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said last week. The future of the tests has been questioned since department layoffs significantly cut the staff that administer and analyze the test results of 4th- and 8th-graders in math and reading, and of 8th-graders in U.S. history and civics. K-12 Dive.
Opinions on schools: “Active shooter on campus.” Those chilling words again. Miami Herald. Texas’ creation of an education savings account program is an enormous achievement and a shift for the country’s school choice movement. Matthew Ladner, NextSteps. For a state that typically punches well below its weight in educational spending, Florida’s new round of budget cutting means more hitting below the belt. Public schools shouldn’t be rushed to the chopping block when the economy sours, but that’s been the state’s go-to. Palm Beach Post. Florida will continue to face pressure to lower the bar on graduation requirements. For the sake of our students —today and long into the future — policymakers must resist that temptation. Bruce Rauner, Tallahassee Democrat.
