Black suspensions: An investigation of more than 600,000 punishments in Pinellas County schools from 2010-2015 shows that black children are suspended at a much higher rate than in the other six large Florida districts, and four times the rate of other children based on their share of the school population. And more than half of those suspensions are for loosely defined offenses such as "not cooperating" and "class disruption." Tampa Bay Times.

Homeless students: More than 71,000 students in Florida public schools were homeless in the 2013-2014 school year, or 3.74 percent of the total. Orange County has about 7,000 homeless students, and Brevard, Seminole and Volusia each have about 2,000. Florida Today.

K-12 funding: State Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, wants fellow legislators to consider other options to boost spending for K-12. Gaetz has been critical of Gov. Rick Scott's education budget, which puts most of the burden of raising additional dollars on Florida residents through property taxes. Miami Herald.

Vouchers in courts: Several school voucher advocate groups are lobbying the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a Colorado case to determine the constitutionality of spending public dollars for tuition at private, religious schools. Many states, including Florida, have so-called Blaine Amendment prohibitions in their constitutions against spending state tax revenue on religious institutions. Education Week. (more…)

Education foundation ratings: Twelve Florida county education foundations are among the nation's top 50 in the annual Stepping Up survey conducted by Dewey & Associates. Pinellas County is No. 1, Hillsborough 6th, Osceola 8th, Seminole 10th, Brevard 16th, Polk 17th, Lee 27th, Broward 28th, Jacksonville 34th, Pasco 38th, Volusia 46th and Palm Beach 60th. The survey rates foundations in eight categories: total revenues, revenues per student, total assets, assets per student, grant and program expenses, grant and program expenses per student, investment income and volunteers.

Teacher saves student: When a piece of candy got stuck in a student's throat during a social studies class at Silver Sands Middle School in Port Orange, teacher Corey McCormack performs the Heimlich maneuver to save his life. Daytona Beach News-Herald.

School shooting: A 15-year-old Lecanto High School student shoots himself in the head in his English class Tuesday. He's in critical condition at a Tampa hospital. Citrus County Chronicle. Tampa Tribune. Tampa Bay Times.

Stadium negotiations: Miami-Dade school officials want benefits worth about $1.3 million for county schools in return for partnering with David Beckham to build a $200 million Major League Soccer stadium. A partnership would shield the team from paying taxes. Miami Herald.

Impact fees: Despite objections by developers, the Manatee County School Board unanimously approved a resolution asking county commissioners to reinstate school impact fees. Bradenton Herald. (more…)