School budgeting: The Miami-Dade County School Board approves a tentative budget of more than $5 billion. While the tax millage is lower, district officials project the average homeowner will pay an extra $27 in taxes, due to increasing property values. Miami Herald. The Palm Beach County School Board approves a tentative $2.4 billion budget. It calls for a less than 2 percent raise for employees, but Superintendent Robert Avossa says the district will try to find room in the budget for more. Sun-Sentinel. Palm Beach Post. Buried in the $498 million Leon County School District budget is a resolution cutting $1 million for textbook and other classroom materials. But district officials say budgeting is a "complicated and fluid process," and that changes have already been made since it was tentatively approved Tuesday. Tallahassee Democrat. The Flagler County School District ranks sixth in the state for its required local effort property tax rate, but 64th in the amount it receives from the state in per-pupil spending. The school board is looking for an explanation. The discrepancy was discovered during budget sessions, at which the board approved a tentative $173 million budget. Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Financial literacy: All Florida high schools must include financial literacy education this coming school year as part of the requirements for graduation. The Palm Beach County School District got ahead of the law and started them in 2014. Palm Beach Post.

School turnarounds: Five struggling Polk County middle schools could be closed for the 2017-2018 school year unless the district comes up with a turnaround plan that the Florida Board of Education approves. The board rejected the district's original proposal, and gave it until Aug. 15 to revise it. Lakeland Ledger.

Advanced classes: The Volusia County School District creates a minority achievement specialist position to find ways to increase minority students' participation in advanced classes. Only 12 percent of the 12,760 students taking advanced courses last year were black. Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Fast-tracking denied: The groups that lost their case against the state's public education system will not get their wish to have the appeal sent directly to the Florida Supreme Court. An appeals court denied the request from Citizens for a Strong Florida and other groups, which alleged the state has failed to provide an adequate public education system. News Service of Florida. (more…)