Around the state: New principals are taking over in Tampa Bay, questions have arisen about the future of Fort Myers Beach Elementary after damage by Hurricane Milton, budget talks continue and a new education commissioner has been named. Here are details about those stories and other developments from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Hillsborough: Ten new principals were approved this week by the Hillsborough County School Board. Tampa Bay Times.
Lee: Fort Myers Beach Elementary remains closed after Hurricane Milton damaged it a year ago. No clear resolution is in sight despite discussions about the future of the school. Ideas include converting it into a charter school to rebuilding the structure to withstand future storms. WINK.
Pasco: New principals are taking the helm at five schools in this county. Mark Feldman will become Pasco High's next leader. Meighan Melsheimer will now lead Wesley Chapel Elementary. Rick Saylor will transfer to Chester Taylor Elementary. Gulfside Elementary will be run by Tammy Berryhill. And New River Elementary will have Kelly Wisneski take over as principal. The district announced new leaders in late May at Gulf High and Wiregrass Ranch High. Tampa Bay Times.
Okaloosa: A Destin Middle School student has earned first place in the 2025 National Civics Bee and is headed to the national finals. Eighth-grader Noah Finkler began his Civics journey in early March at the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural National Civics Bee, which earned him a $500 prize and a trophy. That led him to win as Florida Champion of the 2025 bee. “This is an incredible achievement for Noah, and we couldn’t be prouder,” said Okaloosa County Schools Superintendent Marcus Chambers. WKRG.
Alachua: Officials in this school district are not taking action on a contract with Newberry Charter School. School board members unanimously voted on Tuesday to table the contract after some members expressed concerns that they did not have enough time to review it. WCJB.
Flagler: A policy change in this district would eliminate the 90% capacity cap for school choice. Superintendent LaShakia Moore is recommending that in place of a hard cap, the superintendent would establish an annual threshold based on data that would allow students to choose schools if seats are available in a particular program of study or specific grade level regardless of overall capacity. The threshold would be posted on the district’s website. The Observer.
Education commissioner: The State Board of Education on Wednesday named Anastasios I. Kamoutsas as Florida's 32nd education commissioner. He is one of four deputy chiefs of staff in Gov. Ron DeSantis' office. He served as general counsel and former chief of staff to the Department of Education. “A lot of times in these situations we are taking a leap of faith with people coming in,” said State Board Chairperson Ben Gibson. “Here we have an opportunity to choose someone (and) we don’t have to guess how they’re going to perform.” The University of West Florida named Manny Diaz Jr., education commissioner for the past three years, to serve as its interim president. His role begins in July. Tampa Bay Times. Tallahassee Democrat. Spectrum News. ABC Action News.
Legislative update: After lawmakers proposed slashing bonuses for acceleration programs in half, full funding to pay for advanced placement programs in Florida's public schools is expected to stay in place in the final version of the budget. The proposed cuts included reduced funding for things like advanced placement, IB, dual enrollment and career and technical education. Meanwhile, a new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis says Florida parents will now have to opt in to corporal punishment at the state's public schools. The law requires parents to consent either at the beginning of each school year or before the punishment is administered. School districts will have to review their policies every three years. House and Senate leaders intend to send a proposed budget to Gov. Ron DeSantis on June 16. The fiscal year ends June 30. The state must have a new budget in place by July 1. News4Jax. WFTV.
Colleges and universities: Leaders at the University of South Florida said they don't want to lose the Sarasota-Manatee campus. USF president Rhea Law and Board of Trustees Chair Will Weatherford made their first public comments on the issue since internal documents showed in late May that USF had drafted the legislation to deliver 32 acres of land and buildings in Sarasota to neighboring New College of Florida, in exchange for canceling $53 million of debt on USF's new dormitories. No bill on the New College-USF situation was filed during this year’s legislative session, which began in March and has been extended until later in June. WUSF. Meanwhile, after Santa Ono was rejected by the state Board of Governor's to serve as president of University of Florida, officials are heading back to the drawing board. It is the first time in the Board of Governors’ 20-year history that members have overturned a presidential selection from a university. Tampa Bay Times. NBC News.
Weatherford
Earlier this year, during the last week of Florida's legislative session, House Speaker Will Weatherford stood in the rotunda of Florida's Capitol, posing for pictures with student activists who thanked him for helping push through a bill that had divided legislative Republicans. Earlier that day, the Senate had teed up a vote to grant in-state tuition to immigrants who had come to the country illegally as young children.
The activists, many of them Latinos, were now posing for pictures with the Republican Speaker, who, still in his thirties, may have a long political career ahead of him and who, at the same time, was helping to push separate legislation to expand school choice. It was possible in that moment to imagine the self-described acolyte of Florida's "education governor" rebuilding a more diverse, right-of-center coalition like the one that helped Florida elect two Bushes but frayed in two straight presidential elections as the state backed Barack Obama. It was possible to see him laying the groundwork for an equal opportunity platform in which education would be a key plank.
This week, it also became possible to envision Democrats seizing that mantle – if they can resolve their own internal feuding enough to beat Republicans to it. The timing turned out to be ideal for “Dem Divide,” a series of redefinED posts that explored Democrats’ current divisions on ed reform and parental choice – and ways they might be overcome.
As Dana Goldstein noted last Sunday on MSNBC, "the politics have changed."
The Obama administration is at odds with the two major teachers unions on charter schools, teacher tenure and other issues, with tensions that trace back to the 2008 campaign, when the unions supported Hillary Clinton. But, as Goldstein suggested, Clinton may be preparing to triangulate toward an embrace of charter schools, too, as her husband already has. Why? Because from New York to Indiana to Florida, the news is increasingly Dem vs. Dem.
It’s worth recapping what the voices in the redefinED series had to say about it.
Rep. Manny Diaz Jr.
A key player in legislation to expand school choice scholarships in Florida said Monday he will fight to keep scholarship students from having to take the same standardized tests as their public school counterparts.
The comments from state Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, are squarely at odds with calls for a same-test mandate by Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, and suggest positions may be hardening over a critical potential piece of the legislation.
"I do want to see any mandates to require the state test," Diaz, who is shepherding the bill for House Speaker Will Weatherford, said during a live chat with redefinED.
"I plan to fight to keep away from any mandate of state testing that would stymy innovation at these schools," he continued. "Since there is no current new state test in Florida this would be a mistake. I believe that as we work this (through) the process we will find a solution that will show this program has accountability without placing it in a one-size-fits-all box."
Diaz's comments came on the eve of the bill's hearing Tuesday in the House Choice & Innovation Subcommittee. So far, no testing language has surfaced with the House bill or its Senate counterpart, but Gaetz has indicated that additional testing requirements are a priority. Currently, tax credit scholarship students are required to take state-approved, norm-referenced tests in reading and math, but not the same tests taken by public school students.
Also during the chat, Diaz said he believed the bill will still earn some bipartisan support, as similar legislation has in recent years. No Democrats voted in favor of the bill during its first stop two weeks ago in the House Finance & Taxation Subcommittee. (more…)
Rep. Manny Diaz Jr.
A proposal to strengthen and expand Florida’s tax credit scholarship program, the largest private school choice program in the nation, has drawn a big spotlight during this year’s annual legislative session. State Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, is in the middle of the action.
On behalf of Speaker Will Weatherford, Diaz is shepherding the school choice bill through the House. And he’ll be our guest Monday for a live chat to answer questions about it, both from us and from you. (The scholarship program is administered by Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.)
The chat is kind of like a town hall meeting, but in writing. The floor will be open to anyone with a fair question. To participate, just come back to the blog on Monday, and click in to the live chat program that you’ll find here. We’ll start promptly at 1 p.m.
In the meantime, you can send questions in advance. You can leave them here in the comment section, send them to rmatus@sufs.org, tweet them to @redefinEDonline and/or post them on our facebook page. See you Monday!
