Around the state: Florida ranks first in higher education for the 10th straight year, Martin County's school superintendent makes a preliminary recommendation that a teacher be fired for comments made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk after he was murdered, a bill is filed that would restrict political campaigning on campuses, and polls show Floridians strongly favor school choice and changes in property taxes. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Miami-Dade: Teachers, first responders, nurses and office and service workers would be among the beneficiaries of a developer's proposal for an $880 million mixed-use development that includes affordable housing. The HueHub in the West Little River area would offer below-market rents on about 3,000 apartments once fully built in 2028. "Of course it’s a real-estate project," said developer Pablo Castro. "At the end, it has to be profitable. But it’s different. ... To me, it’s a social project. We are filling a gap." Miami Herald. School zone speed detection cameras in unincorporated areas have generated 236,573 tickets in the 11 months since the program began. At $100 per ticket, that's more than $23 million in revenue. Miami Herald.
Marion: K-9 units are now being used by the sheriff's department to search for weapons at elementary schools. The policy changed after Sheriff Billy Woods publicly complained that the district wouldn't allow those searches. District spokesman Kevin Christian said the process is the same one used in middle and high schools. WCJB.
Escambia: The University of West Florida is considering opening a K-3 school in 2026 that would provide free tuition for the children of faculty, staff and students. Options include a laboratory school, charter school or philanthropically funded school on the Pensacola campus. Interim UWF president Manny Diaz Jr. said the school could expand to 6th grade and provide education majors with firsthand experience in an actual school setting. Pensacola News Journal. WEAR.
Hernando: District officials plan to spend $2.5 million to alleviate flooding at Springstead High School's football field and track. Part of the project includes installing artificial turf on the football field and converting the existing practice field into a drainage retention pond. Suncoast News.
Martin: Superintendent Michael Maine is making a preliminary recommendation that a teacher be fired for social media comments made after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier this month. Matt Theobald, a teacher at Spectrum Academy in Stuart, called Kirk a racist, misogynistic, fear-mongering, xenophobic neo-Nazi "who used religion to justify all of the evil things he's said and done." TCPalm.
Indian River: School officials are turning the old Pelican Island Elementary School into a classical education program. Pelican Island Classical Magnet School is only the second district-run public classical program in Florida. The school is expanding to cover K-8 grades, and the new curriculum will begin with the youngest students but will cover all grades by the 2028-2029 school year, said district officials. Sebastian Daily.
Citrus: District officials are partnering with the county commission, the housing authority and the Citrus County Education Foundation to apply for a $500,000, two-year grant to help homeless students and their families get into stable housing. Citrus County Chronicle.
Colleges and universities: Florida is rated No. 1 in higher education by U.S. News & World Report for the 10th consecutive year, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday. Florida's rating is attributed to low costs and graduating students on time with minimal or no debt. Seven Florida were ranked among the top 100 public universities nationwide. WFLA. WTXL. Florida Politics. Gainesville Sun. Gov. DeSantis also said Monday that colleges and universities would be receiving grades on spending this fall from the state's Department of Governmental Efficiency. Florida Politics. Thousands of workers in the state's universities could be affected by the Trump administration's proposed $100,000 fee to apply for an H-1B visa. Miami Herald. Full Sail University, a film school in Winter Park, faces a federal lawsuit accusing it of lying about the number of students getting jobs after graduation in order to get $377 million in federal financial assistance. WOFL.
In the Legislature: A bill filed for the 2026 legislative session would create a set of rules governing political campaigning on all public school and state college campuses. HB 49 would prohibit posting of campaign signs, distributing campaign literature, collecting donations in a way that suggests a school’s endorsement of a candidate, and restrict school employees from using school resources for political advocacy. Florida Politics. Florida's Voice.
School choice poll: School choice is positively viewed by nearly two-thirds of Floridians, according to a poll from the James Madison Institute. Forty-one percent say they want private schools, while 14% prefer home-schooling and 10% favor charter schools. The survey also said 58% think public schools should "offer individual courses for a fee to part-time scholarship students." Florida Politics. Knowledge of school choice programs offered in Florida is spotty, according to an EdChoice survey. Just 39% correctly said Florida has an education savings account program, while 15% said it did not and 44% said they were unsure. EdChoice.
Property taxes poll: More than 65% of Floridians say they would vote for some kind of property tax reform, according to a poll from the James Madison Institute. State leaders have been talking about cutting or eliminating property taxes, something that would require 60% approval from voters. Florida Phoenix. Florida Politics.
Opinions on schools: Our state government is authoritarian and proudly ignorant, hell-bent on destroying what makes universities great — freedom of expression, critical thinking, creativity, exposing students to ideas that may challenge them (or even upset them), unfettered research, scientific rigor, and advances in knowledge based on data. Diane Roberts, Florida Phoenix. America has a narrow window: adapt the public system to harness artificial intelligence responsibly or let the market decide who gets tomorrow’s education and who is stuck with yesterday’s. Shahin Hossain, Baltimore Sun.
