Florida roundup: Budgets, digital learning, summer and more

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STEM. Students in Orlando’s Pine Hills neighborhood experiment with growing bioluminescent mushrooms. Orlando Sentinel. These 20 public elementary schools excel in science instruction for disadvantaged students. Bridge to Tomorrow. Students at a Lakeland Christian school learn about robotics during a summer workshop. Lakeland Ledger.

Budgets. Miami-Dade school officials plan to lower the property tax rate slightly. Miami Herald. Local districts await state information on property tax revenues for schools. Tallahassee Democrat.

Private schools. A Bradenton Montessori school plans to expand into a new location. Bradenton Herald.

Charter schools. Palm Beach’s new superintendent plans a forum for charter school parents. Sun-Sentinel.

Digital learning. Florida schools seem likely to to receive state digital classrooms funding despite uncertainty caused by a line-item veto. Tampa Bay Times. A parent writes an open letter to Palm Beach’s superintendent on digital learning. Context Florida.

International Baccalaureate. A St. Petersburg student gets rare perfect scores on her college-credit exams. Tampa Bay Times.

Growth. Okaloosa officials discuss the possibility of a new Destin high school. Destin Log.

Teacher quality. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune looks at the state’s controversial new teacher bonus program.

Early learning. Duval’s Head Start programs appear to be helping students achieve. Florida Times-Union.

Spanish. Most Floridians say it should be a required subject in Florida schools, according to a new survey. Orlando Sentinel.

Summer. Third graders head to reading camp with the hope of reaching fourth grade. Tampa Tribune. Can a longer school year help combat the summer slide? Palm Beach Post.

GED. Lee’s superintendent gets a scathing message from a school board member over cheating allegations. Fort Myers News-Press.

Oil spill. The Polk school board prepares to vote on a BP oil spill settlement. Lakeland Ledger. More from the Tallahassee Democrat.


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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.