Cruz's statement released: Nikolas Cruz, accused of shooting 17 people to death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, told police he had been hearing voices that told him to buy a gun and to "burn, kill, destroy." Left alone during the interview, Cruz was recorded talking to himself, saying: “Kill me. Just f---ing kill me. ... I want to die. At the end, you’re nothing but worthless s---, dude. You deserve to die because you’re f---ing worthless and you f---ing (unintelligible) everyone. I want to die.” Cruz's attorneys tried to keep the statement from being made public, but a judge ruled against them and the transcript was released Monday, The video will be released today. Sun-Sentinel. Miami Herald. Associated Press. TCPalm. The Broward County School Board is asking a judge to hold a newspaper in contempt for publishing a report on Cruz's school experience that included material the judge ordered redacted. The method the district used to redact parts of the report allowed reporters to see those parts by copying the report and pasting it into another document. Sun-Sentinel.

Reading scholarships: Florida families can apply for the state's new reading scholarship starting Aug. 13. Students are eligible if they scored a Level 1 or 2 on the language arts Florida Standards Assessment test in grades 3 or 4 in the 2017-18 school year. The scholarships are available on a first-come, first-served basis for up to $500 to help pay for tutoring and materials. Special priority will be given to English language learners. The scholarship is administered by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog. Gradebook.

VPK readiness test: The practice round for the state's Voluntary PreKindergarten (VPK) programs is over, and those programs will have to have 60 percent of their students pass the kindergarten ready test this year to avoid being put on probation. During the trial period, just 42 percent of VPK providers managed to reach the 60 percent benchmark. Many managers of those programs say the problem lies not with the programs or the students, but with the tests. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. (more…)