Around the state: Scores on national tests show steep declines in reading, math and science among 12th- and 8th-graders, a Leon County couple is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case of their school district recognizing their child's wish to be identified as a male without their permission, Florida's Education Department hasn't updated student enrollment projections since March, and more details are revealed about the state's wish to end school vaccination mandates. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Hillsborough: School board chair Jessica Vaughn says if she's thrown out of office by the state over book removal disputes, she'll consider running for governor. The state has demanded that district officials remove books with sexual content and threatened them with consequences for not complying. At today's board meeting, Superintendent Van Ayres will ask the board to remove two more books. Vaughn says her issue with the state's actions centers on the structure of democracy and home rule. Tampa Bay Times.
Pasco: The school district is partnering with Advent Health to create a health-care focused program in which high school students will be trained for a variety of jobs in the system's three county hospitals after they graduate. Tampa Bay Times.
Marion: A 9-year-old 4th-grade student was taken into custody Monday and accused of carrying a handgun in a backpack on a school bus headed to College Park Elementary School in Ocala. "The student did not threaten anyone with the weapon; however, other students saw it and reported it to the bus driver, who immediately alerted authorities," reported the district. WKMG. WCJB. Orlando Sentinel.
Leon: The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to review the case of parents who sued the school board for agreeing to refer to their child as a male without asking their permission. January and Jeffrey Littlejohn's case was dismissed at the federal district level and by a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the full appeals court also declined a review. News Service of Florida. USA Today Florida Network. Superintendent Rocky Hanna is proposing that the half-cent sales tax for schools be raised to a full cent to help the school district keep up with expenses. The idea would require approval from the Legislature and then from voters. WFSU. School board members are expected to approve a $647 million budget for the 2025-2026 school year at today's meeting. Tallahassee Democrat.
Alachua: Newberry city commissioners have approved a $2 million loan to the Newberry Community School to help with startup costs for the conversion of the public elementary school into a charter school. WCJB.
Flagler: Derek Barrs is resigning his District 1 school board seat Sept. 30 to begin a job as administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in Washington, D.C. Gov. Ron DeSantis will appoint Barr's replacement to fill the final 14 months of his term. Flagler Live. A 15-year-old student from Flagler Palm Coast High School was arrested last week and accused of having a handgun at school. The boy told deputies he was "just playing around" when he later pointed it at a classmate in a McDonald's near the school. Daytona Beach News-Journal. WKMG. WOFL.
Wakulla: School board members gave final approval Monday to a $62.5 million budget Monday for the 2025-2026 school year. It's $2.2 million higher than last year's. Superintendent Richard Myhre said the district was able to offer raises and keep health insurance premiums steady by reducing administrative positions and better deploying resources. WTXL. Wakulla County School Board.
Colleges and universities: A circuit judge has ruled that William McCormick Jr. was legitimately chosen as president of Florida Memorial University, and that Walter Weatherington Sr. is the president of the school’s board of trustees. A faction on the board disputed that McCormick was lawfully appointed in August. Miami Herald.
Test scores down again: Scores on national reading and math tests for 12th-graders and science tests for 8th-graders continued to decline in 2024, according to results announced today by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Reading results for high school seniors were at the lowest level in three decades, and math scores were the lowest since 2005. Only about a third of those students were leaving high school with reading and math skills needed for college. Science scores for 8th-graders also were the lowest in a decade. The results represented "a stark decline" in performance, said Matthew Soldner, the acting commissioner of the U.S. Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the tests. Associated Press. New York Times. Chalkbeat. Nation's Report Card.
Today's vaccine status: Making vaccines for schoolchildren optional isn't something that will happen overnight, and might not cover all vaccines. Florida's health department has the authority to end mandatory shots for chickenpox, Hib infections, influenza type B and pneumococcal disease. Vaccinations for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, measles, mumps and rubella would continue unless the Legislature approves a law ending their mandatory administration. Miami Herald. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Tracking enrollment: The Florida Department of Education hasn't updated student enrollment projections since March, leaving school districts and legislators struggling to make financial decisions that depend on the numbers of students still in public school classrooms and how many are using state K-12 scholarships to attend private schools. Not having that information causes funding issues for both. "We are the universal school choice model state," said state Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Pensacola. "If we keep having difficulty making the funding systems work, that doesn’t bode well for the replication of school choice in other states." Politico Florida.
New committee chairs: Several Florida House committee chairs were named Monday by Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami. Among them is Rep. Demi Busatta, R-Coral Gables, who remains the chair of the Higher Education Budget Subcommittee. Her new vice chair is Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland Beach. The 60-day legislative session begins Jan. 13. Florida Phoenix.
Around the nation: President Trump said Monday that he is directing the U.S. Department of Education to create new guidelines protecting the right to pray in schools. He did not provide details, but did say, "For most of our country’s history, the Bible was found in every classroom in the nation, yet in many schools today students are instead indoctrinated with anti-religious propaganda and some are punished for their religious beliefs. Very, very strongly punished. It is ridiculous." Politico. Education Week.
Opinions on schools: The politics of blue states lend themselves to more of the same on K-12 educational policy. Matthew Ladner, NextSteps. The headlines I keep reading about the state’s K-12 schools are about book bans, vouchers, declining public school enrollments, investigations of school board members, and ending vaccination rules. When will Florida get around to caring whether our students learn math? Paul Cottle, Bridge to Tomorrow. Florida's early-grade academic performance is a major success story. The question is whether we can sustain the excellence achieved at lower grades into the middle school years. Tom Majdanics, Florida Times-Union.
