Education bills: The Florida Senate Budget Committee passes two broadly drawn Senate education bills. SB 524 deals with teacher bonuses, charter facilities financing, competency-based pilot programs and giving principals greater authority to make changes at struggling schools. SB 1166 would allow open enrollment for any student to attend any school with an opening, allow athletes to transfer and play immediately, and more closely define charter school accountability. An attempt to add an amendment requiring recess every day in elementary schools was withdrawn. Miami Herald. Politico Florida. News Service of Florida. WFSU.

Help for deaf: A Senate committee passes a bill that would help mainstream children who are deaf or hard of hearing into regular education. The bill would increase state funds for school programs that use hearing devices to aid spoken communication. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

District, police split: The Pasco County School District and the Zephyrhills Police Department are ending their contract for resource officers at two schools. The relationship deteriorated when Zephyrhills High School fired football coach Reggie Roberts, who is a police sergeant. Pasco County deputies will take over the contract. Tampa Tribune. Gradebook.

Success story: Lake Wales High School has doubled students' college acceptance rate in five years, cut chronic absenteeism and has the highest graduation rate in Polk County. Much of the credit goes to Principal Donna Dunson, who has instituted new rules since starting at the school in 2010. Among them: An 8:30 a.m. start time, extending lunches from 23 minutes to an hour, requiring teachers to let students retake tests, and more. Lakeland Ledger. (more…)

Construction caps: School officials worry about the effects a construction spending cap bill will have on growing districts. One of the provisions in the House bill limits the amount that can be spent on land, which district officials say is unfair because the price of property varies widely across the state. Another is that construction money collected through property taxes would have to be shared with charter schools. Orlando Sentinel. Fort Myers News-Press.

School recess: Pinellas County School District officials make it official: There will be recess or physical education classes in elementary schools every day for the 2016-2017 school year. Each school will determine its own scheduling. Gradebook.

School pledge bill: Sponsors of the Pledge of Allegiance bill say it's still alive, despite the lack of action in the Senate. The bill would allow schools to post notice of a student's right not to participate in a student handbook instead of having a sign in every classroom. Pensacola News Journal. TCPalm.

NAACP's view: The NAACP says it supports Duval County School Board member Constance Hall's comments about the need to improve school grades. It also discounts Superintendent Nikolai Vitti's claims of being in a hostile work environment. The tiff started when Hall sent text messages to another school staffer that were critical of Vitti. Florida Times-Union.

Charter school rejected: The Lake County School Board rejects a proposed charter school in Minneola that can't open by August as it originally said it would. Officials at the Pinecrest Lakes Academy Charter School will have to resubmit an application when they're ready to open. Daily Commercial. (more…)