Hiring freeze: The Hillsborough County School District is freezing teacher hiring as part of its austerity measures. The current 140 vacancies will be filled by educators who have been working outside of a classroom. The district is trying to save $130 million this year, in a budget of $2.8 billion. The Gibson Consulting Group is being paid $818,000 to help the district find ways to cut spending. Tampa Bay Times. WFLA.

Contract agreements: The Palm Beach County teachers union and district officials agree on a contract that calls for an average raise of 3 percent for teachers. The starting teacher salary is bumped to $41,000, and the top of the pay scale goes up by about $1,700 to $78,645. Palm Beach Post. Manatee County school officials announce tentative contract agreements with the teachers' and service employees' unions. The agreements call for raises and no increases in health insurance costs for employees. Bradenton Herald.

Improvement ratings: The Florida Department of Education releases its school improvement ratings for alternative and special education centers. Gradebook.

Audit committee: If voters approve a sales tax increase for Manatee County schools, the district will give an audit committee an important role in tracking how the projected $30 million a year is spent. The audit committee will be made up of mostly retired certified public accountants who are volunteers. The school board says it will also consider sharing some of the proceeds with charter schools. Bradenton Herald. (more…)

School testing: The Lake County School Board is asking the Legislature to replace the Florida Standards Assessments test with another nationally accepted assessment test. Daily Commercial. Florida testing is putting a strain on high school marching bands in the Miami area. The state requires reading intervention for middle-schoolers with low test scores, which leaves less time for band classes. So fewer students are taking those classes, leading to lower participation at the high school level. WLRN.

Class sizes: The city of Miami Beach is asking Florida superintendents to help convince state legislators to close loopholes in the state class-size rules. "The Mayor and City Commission of the City of Miami Beach consider the education of its residents to be a top priority and has one of its key intended outcomes to achieve K-12 educational excellence," the resolution states. Gradebook.

Equal education: Lee County School Board members are considering changing the school assignment process to provide more equality in education throughout the district. Some members believe specialty programs are overtaking some schools, which is concentrating high-achievers in some schools and low-achievers in others. Fort Myers News-Press.

Racial disparities: Civil rights activists argue that the Hillsborough County School District should not be released from a federal investigation into racial disparities in teaching and discipline. They say the district has not shown that it's on the way to providing equity. Tampa Bay Times.

Schools reopening: Most school districts around the state are open today after missing several days due to Hurricane Matthew. Florida Times-Union. St. Augustine Record. Florida Today. WFTV. News Service of Florida.

Makeup days: Pinellas County school officials say they won't require students to make up the day lost to Hurricane Matthew. Gradebook. (more…)