Florida families work to influence school closing decisions
As school districts across Florida move to close campuses amid shrinking enrollment, the debates leading up to their decisions attract the most attention. While the closure votes may be the most monumental, they’re not the only ones where families have the opportunity to try to influence such potentially life-altering outcomes. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
See also:
» Orange County School Board approves closing seven schools
» Hillsborough outlines plans to close three schools and redraw boundaries for others
Florida Trend Exclusive
MRI pipeline
Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences in Jacksonville has doubled its Radiograph Technologist Program cohort to 20 students. The move takes place as Mayo Clinic recently opened its Duan Family Building, which will include seven MRI machines and require more radiograph technologists. “By offering affordable education and launching a focused MRI internship, we’re creating a reliable, well-trained pipeline that directly supports our imaging needs and helps retain talent within Mayo Clinic Florida,” says David Ausejo, director of education at Mayo Clinic in Florida. [Source: Florida Trend]
Senate budget shifts how Florida tracks special education funding as scholarship enrollment expands
As lawmakers move toward budget conference negotiations, a key policy discussion is emerging over how the state calculates and tracks funding for students with disabilities. The Senate’s proposed education budget restructures how Exceptional Student Education (ESE) funding appears in the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP), separating scholarship-funded students from the traditional public school funding formula. [Source: Florida Politics]
Florida on verge of letting booster clubs pay high school coaches
The Florida Legislature has overwhelmingly passed a bill to allow high school booster clubs to provide direct, additional compensation to coaches. Supporters argue the measure will help Florida schools compete with neighboring states that offer higher pay. Opponents raise concerns about creating pay disparities between schools in wealthy and poor areas. [Source: Tallahassee Democrat]
Florida bill passes, easing agency customer reps’ education requirements
Florida lawmakers, with no dissenting votes, have approved a measure that would let insurance agencies’ customer service representatives bypass licensing classes if they have taken insurance courses in high school. House Bill 1343, co-sponsored by Rep. Brian Hodgers, one of only two insurance agency owners in the Florida Legislature, is seen as a way to help address a growing shortage of insurance industry workers. [Source: Insurance Journal]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› USF reports $531M in research activity for 2025, 15% climb over two years
The University of South Florida reported $531 million in research activity for the 2025 fiscal year — a 15% increase over the past two years. Those numbers were reported to the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development survey, which is the federal government’s main benchmark for measuring research activity at universities nationwide.
› Florida Polytechnic University launching athletics programs this summer
Florida Polytechnic University will add sports this summer, making it the last public university in the state to add athletics. Florida Poly, the newest state university, will launch men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s cross-country, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, and softball. The Lakeland institution is seeking entrance to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the Sun Conference.
› FIU professors weigh showdown with DeSantis over ‘censored’ sociology course
Professors at Florida International University are debating whether to pick a fight with the DeSantis administration over a state-created sociology curriculum that places substantial limits on how race and gender can be taught in one of the subject’s foundational courses. At issue for FIU’s sociology department is a new ultimatum from the Miami school’s top academic officer: teach the state’s version of the class, or oust it from the university’s general-education curriculum at the risk of cratering enrollment and tuition revenue.
› Father and daughter graduate together from South Florida State College Business Program
Father and daughter, Edwin and Glarysvette Delgado, will graduate together from South Florida State College (SFSC) with their Bachelor of Science in Supervision and Management (BAS-SM) in May 2026. Both of the Sebring residents earned their Associate in Arts degrees from SFSC in 2024, and both are the first in their families to graduate from college. SFSC began offering the BAS-SM in the fall term of 2012, and the first cohort of 14 students graduated in May 2014.