schools

The release comes as new data reveals just 53 percent of Florida's third-graders passed the state’s reading test.

Researchers say the billions in pandemic funding available for ventilation upgrades in U.S. schools provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to combat COVID-19, as well as making air more breathable for students living with allergies, asthma, and chronic wildfire smoke.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Tuesday that requires training school officers to better deal with "students with emotional disturbance or mental illness" and addresses rules on emergency drills.

About 35,000 U.S. children entered kindergarten for the 2020-21 school year without evidence they were vaccinated for extremely contagious diseases, the CDC reports.

Advocates say families in Florida and across the nation are already struggling with rising food costs, and if these waivers expire in June, things will only get harder.

The law requires schools to create “individualized seizure action” plans at the request of parents, with the plans providing guidelines for caring for students with epilepsy.

Kids were already facing a mental health crisis before the pandemic. Closing schools for a year only made it worse, says Rachel Kusher of the Florida School Counselor Association. And reopening hasn’t fixed all the harm.

The governor says initiatives will include reading coaches, STEM and math acceleration programs, parent mentorship training and mental health resources.

The school board will be asking voters to once again pay more in taxes to fund what they say are critical services, mental health support and school security staff.

Districts that defied a mask mandate ban would get a smaller funding increase under the budget proposal.