Florida roundup: Charter schools, teachers of the year, budgets and more

florida-roundup-logoCharter schools. A highly sought-after football recruit transfers to a charter school in the middle of his senior year in a bid to promote its new football program. Sun-Sentinel.

School choice. The Bay County school district receives hundreds of choice applications. WJHG.

Awards. Districts around the state select teachers of the year. Tampa Bay Times. Miami Herald. Sun-Sentinel.Hillsborough names diversity educator finalists. Tampa Bay Times.

Budgets. Brevard schools prepare to add programs and staff for the first time after years of budget cuts. Florida Today. Public support is growing for a new Lee County high school, but budget questions remain. Naples Daily News.

Teacher pay. Marion school district employees are in line for a raise. Ocala Star-Banner.

Testing. Students can opt out of diagnostic assessments but not mandatory state tests. Florida Today. A teacher raises concerns. Gradebook.

Student health. A Manatee high school sees a meningitis outbreak. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Superintendents. Palm Beach school board members say their new superintendent should have an education background. Palm Beach Post.

Discipline. The Hillsborough school district holds “chats” on school discipline. Tampa Bay Times. Tampa Tribune.

STEM. Coporate grants fuel STEM programs at Central Florida schools. Orlando Sentinel.

Special needs. A program provides industry-grade cooking lessons to special needs students. Miami Herald.


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BY Travis Pillow

Travis Pillow is Director of Thought Leadership at Step Up For Students and editor of NextSteps. He lives in Sanford, Fla. with his wife and two children. A former Tallahassee statehouse reporter, he most recently worked at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a research organization at Arizona State University, where he studied community-led learning innovation and school systems' responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. He can be reached at tpillow (at) sufs.org.