Title IX dispute: Florida will not comply with a new federal Title IX rule that adds protections for transgender students to the federal civil rights law on sex-based discrimination, Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed Thursday. He also ordered schools around the state to disregard the newly released rule. “Florida rejects (President Biden’s) attempt to rewrite Title IX,” DeSantis said in a video posted on the social media platform X. “We will not comply, and we will fight back.” Officials in Oklahoma, Louisiana and South Carolina joined Florida in directing schools to ignore the new Title IX rules. T ..read more

Title IX showdown: State officials said Wednesday they will fight the Biden administration’s new Title IX rule that expands civil rights protections to gender identity. School districts have been warned by Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. not to change any current practices based on state law, which prohibits transgender students from using bathrooms that don’t align with their assigned gender at birth. “Florida will fight this,” said Diaz. “The Biden administration maims the statute beyond recognition in an attempt to gaslight the country into believing that biological sex no longer has ..read more

DORAL – When he begins his freshman year this fall at Boston University, Alvaro Saenz plans to major in biomedical engineering, a decision driven by his lifelong love of science and his desire to dedicate his life to helping people with special needs – such as his brother. “It combines the best of both worlds,” he said. Alvaro has always been fascinated with science. The desire to work with those with special needs comes from his younger brother, Jose Pablo, who, at a young age, developed a form of epilepsy that cannot be controlled by medication. Alvaro will graduate this spring near the ..read more

Victoria Hanley, who oversees homeschool programming at the Pasco County Library in Land O’Lakes, Florida, helps Olivia Bosley, 15, as she gets ready to sew a Valentine’s Day dinner napkin. LAND O’LAKES, Florida – It’s a few days before Valentine’s Day, and eight homeschool students at the Pasco County Library are about to sew a festive cloth dinner napkin to celebrate in style.  But first, they need to review the basics, such as inserting and threading the bobbin, a small metal spool that sits in a case inside the front of the machine. They also must learn where they should touch and whe ..read more

Around the state: Orange County voters will be asked in November to renew a half-cent sales tax for school construction, all Broward high schools are getting metal detectors in the fall, six semifinalists are chosen for the superintendent’s job in Duval County, a pay study in Bay schools shows teachers are compensated fairly compared to their peers but other school workers and administrators are not, Pinellas schools are considering allowing A, B and C students to exempt exams, and Rollins College President Grant Cornwell is retiring next year. Here are details about those stories and others f ..read more

Around the state: A Leon County judge orders Florida State University into mediation with the Atlantic Coast Conference to try to settle dueling lawsuits over the school’s intent to leave the conference, Florida High School Athletic Association board members are considering a proposal to sanction competitive video gaming, a paraprofessional at a Marion County elementary school has been named Florida’s school-related employee of the year, a program called Osceola Prosper is being credited with improving the number of students attending college, Broward’s superintendent begins negotiations with ..read more

Mexicayotl Academy of Excellence, a charter school in Nogales Arizona, demonstrated the highest level of average academic growth among Arizona schools in the latest version of the Stanford Educational Opportunity Project data (see national data below). Clocking in at an impressive 95.6% faster than the national average, Mexicayotl is famous for academics, native dance performances and fun. It is not just the fortunate students in Nogales who can learn from Mexicayotl- the school has much to teach the rest of us as well. Source: Stanford Educational Opportunity Project Former Arizona Superinten ..read more

In a thrilling example of learning outside the classroom, Tampa’s Busch Gardens hosts Physics Day each year. Photo credit: Jeremy Thompson. After we finished recording an interview about homeschool families using state funds to pay for educational activities at Florida theme parks, a TV reporter told me her most interesting day in high school occurred at Busch Gardens in Tampa. Her physics class spent a day with the engineers responsible for the iconic theme park’s roller coaster rides. These engineers explained the physics behind how the various roller coasters are designed, shared simulation ..read more

Around the state: Florida is appealing a judge’s decision that blocks the enforcement of a 2023 state law requiring a transgender teacher to use pronouns aligning with her sex assigned at birth, three sites are chosen as finalists to land the Florida Museum of Black History, a Lee County’s baseball season was cut short by a racially inflammatory email and a subsequent in-game walkout, an inspector general’s recent audit of Florida’s Bright Futures Scholarship program found problems at three colleges, and University of Central Florida professors are protesting because they didn’t get raises thi ..read more

Communism classes: Florida’s K-12 students will start learning about the history of communism in the 2026-2027 school year under a bill that was signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Ron DeSantis. “We’re going to tell the truth about the evils of communism, about the unprecedented death toll at the hands of communist tyranny,” said DeSantis, who blamed the ideology for 100 million casualties over the decades. Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. added that the age-appropriate lessons will ensure that history is not repeated when it comes to the “devil that is communism.” Miami Herald. USA Today F ..read more