Budget priorities: Preliminary education budget numbers from the Florida House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee include a big bump for student uniforms and a big cut in teacher bonuses. The optional districtwide K-8 student uniforms program is budgeted for $14 million, up from $3.75 million a year ago. The Best and Brightest teacher bonuses program, which received $48 million last year, is tentatively budgeted for $13.95 million. Subcommittee chairman Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, has told committee members that millions of dollars need to be cut from the budget for schools, and that no program should be considered off-limits. Gradebook.

A teacher's Oscar: Lukas Hefty, the magnet program coordinator at Douglas L. Jamerson Elementary in St. Petersburg, is one of 35 U.S. educators to win a 2016-17 Milken Educator Award, which is often called the "Oscars of Teaching." Hefty is the only educator from Florida selected. He wins $25,000 and will attend a Milken educator forum in New Orleans in March. Tampa Bay Times. WUSF.

False addresses: An investigation reveals that 97 addresses given by Calusa Elementary School parents and guardians are questionable and need to be checked further. About 370 students are scheduled to be rezoned out of Calusa's boundaries to ease overcrowding, and many parents have long suspected that some students are there because they use false addresses. The Palm Beach County School District has not said what its next step will be. Sun-Sentinel.

District rezoning: Almost 1,000 students in Seminole County will change schools in August to relieve overcrowding at six elementary schools: Highlands, Keeth, Lake Mary, Layer, Winter Springs and Woodlands. Public hearings on the boundary changes are Tuesday and Jan. 24. Orlando Sentinel. (more…)