Around the state: Three people with ties to Gov. Ron DeSantis are confirmed as university presidents by the Board of Governors, Sarasota schools have dropped plans to build two new schools because of rising costs and financial uncertainty, Leon’s school board calls for a pause in the superintendent’s proposal to sue a charter school over equipment the district paid for and wants back, and more than 70 new state laws will take effect July 1. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Hillsborough: Recent criticism from the state Board of Education over the district’s school libraries still having books with “inappropriate” content carried over to the week’s school board meeting. Members of the community hammered Superintendent Van Ayres, the school board and chief academic officer Colleen Faucett over the way they’ve handled the issue. During the meeting, the board approved a recommendation to move Faucett into the position of executive officer for professional standards in human resources. Tampa Bay Times.
Volusia: County and school officials are collaborating to address the persistent flooding problems that have plagued Osteen Elementary School for years. District officials said they will expand a retention pond on campus, and the county will raise the sidewalks and build another retention pond in the area. The work is expected to start this year. WKMG.
Sarasota: Plans for new schools have been revised in the district’s latest five-year capital plan. Rising costs and other funding demands have prompted the district to put off, at least for now, plans for a new Woodland area high school and a Wellen Park K-8 school, both in North Port. Charlotte Sun.
Escambia: School officials have removed more than 1,600 books from school libraries in the past couple of years, and the district is believed to be the U.S. leader in removals. Here’s a list of all the books the district has removed, including the 18 that were taken off shelves this week. Pensacola News Journal.
Leon: Superintendent Rocky Hanna’s call to sue a now-closed charter school to retrieve equipment and property bought with public funds was tabled this week by the school board because all of its members weren’t present. Renaissance Academy announced in March that it was closing, but the district’s request to reclaim property it bought was met with a threat of a lawsuit from the charter. Tallahassee Democrat.
Colleges and universities: Florida’s Board of Governors on Wednesday confirmed the appointments of Marva Johnson as president at Florida A&M University, Jeanette Nunez as president of Florida International University, and Manny Diaz Jr. as interim president of the University of West Florida. All have ties to Gov. Ron DeSantis. The board also approved the use of college auxiliary funds such as dorm fees and meal plans to pay college athletes, and adopted a rule that could raise out-of-state tuition by 10%. Politico Florida. News Service of Florida. Associated Press. Florida International was the highest performing public university in the state in 2025 based on the performance-based model that determines bonuses for the schools. Florida Gulf Coast University was the lowest scoring school. Florida Phoenix.
The death of later school starts: A push in Florida to require later start times for middle and high schools ultimately fell apart because of costs and logistics. It’s a case study of how even a proposal backed by scientific data and a powerful state politician can fail. New York Times.
Also from the Legislature: Legislators backed off making cuts in funding for students who take Advanced Placement and other college-level courses and will finance them in full again next year. The cuts would have cost districts millions and jeopardized students’ ability to earn college credits by taking the accelerated classes. Orlando Sentinel. Per-student K-12 spending will go up next year, but so slightly that many educators believe it won’t be noticeable. Miami Herald. WOFL.
New laws effective July 1: More than 70 new laws take effect in the state July 1. Among them: a requirement that schools use materials that update the name Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America; allowing schools to buy and store glucagon for emergency treatment of severe hypoglycemia; revising provisions related to critical teacher shortages, educator certifications and more; requiring schools to have automated external defibrillators and training staff on using them; modifying the requirements for reporting teacher misconduct; and more. WTVT.
Around the nation: In 2022 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can’t exclude schools from voucher programs because they’re religious. Now some religious schools in Maine are challenging a law that requires them to accept all students, including those who identify as LGBTQ, even if being gay violates the teachings of the school. “This moral panic over letting religious schools be religious — even if they’re receiving tuition subsidies — needs to end,” said Adele Keim, senior counsel with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The 74. The U.S. State Department says it will begin screening all applications for student visas for “any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.” Politico.
Opinions on schools: Voucher advocates are right to want more choice, more competition, more diversity of school models and more accountability for performance in the nation’s education system. But turning the K-12 education system into a marketplace, in which the quality of a child’s school depends upon how much their parents can afford to pay, will only widen the gaps between haves and have-nots. David Osborne, The 74. As colleges struggle to incorporate civics into their general-education programs, they will have to decide if they will simply add new civics classes to their requirements or if they will pack the elements specified by their state legislatures into an existing course. Timothy Messer-Kruse, Chronicle of Higher Education.
