Flagler County School Board member Lauren Ramirez’s challenge of proposed restrictions on her private business not only prevailed today before the Florida Ethics Commission, which unanimously took her side, but spurred a request by the commission that the Florida Legislature rewrite the relevant portions of law to prevent similar conflict-of-interest restrictions in the future. Ramirez all but won her challenge behind arguments to the Ethics Commission by her attorney, Theresa Pontieri, the Palm Coast City Council vice mayor.
Schools
Stop the Grift: Florida’s School Vouchers Are Scamming Taxpayers and Sabotaging Democracy
Our public schools are America’s great equalizer, the engine room of our democracy, where kids of different incomes, races, abilities, and beliefs learn side by side. That’s not “just education.” That’s democracy in motion, argues Colleen Conklin, the former School Board member. And that’s precisely why the current voucher experiment—built on selective enrollment, hidden finances, and zero public oversight—is the opposite: it fractures the common schoolhouse, privatizes accountability, and poses a real threat to the democratic fabric that public education holds together.
School Board Fails Math as It Adds Deputy Despite Increased Costs in Lean Times and No Increased Safety
Just hours after the Flagler County School Board bemoaned sharply leaner times as enrollment drops, state dollars drop with it and federal dollars are being withheld, the board voted to add one more school resource deputy to its ranks even though the deputy will not improve school safety and the cost-benefit data is not in favor of adding one.
Daytona State College Rolls Out Mobile Library
Daytona State College is rolling out a mobile “Book Bike” with support from a $6,100 grant from the Northeast Florida Library Information Network (NEFLIN).
University of Miami Under Investigation for Scholarships to Undocumented Students
The University of Miami is one of five universities being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for allegedly violating federal civil rights laws in awarding scholarships to academically eligible students lacking permanent legal status.
Flagler School Board Wrestles with Smoke and Mirrors Budget as $17 Million in Vouchers and Trump Cuts Hit Home
If Flagler County School Board members aren’t panicking over next year’s budget, they’re either putting on a good act or not fully grasping the breadth of the rapidly changing financial landscape and disappearing dollars that district staff outlined for them at a meeting Tuesday. Large parts of the budget are cloaked in smoke and mirrors–not because district staff is playing with the numbers, but because the federal and state governments are requiring the district to bank on dollars it will never see, or dollars that may never materialize, even though the dollars have to be included in the budget.
Flagler School Board Isn’t Dancing About YMCA’s Request for $3 Million for Palm Coast Y in Town Center
Volusia Flagler YMCA officials made their pitch to the Flagler County School Board for a $3 million contribution to help pay for the $16 million Y planned for Palm Coast’s Town Center. The same officials made the same request of Palm Coast government in April. Palm Coast is almost in. The School Board was much cooler. It shut down the possibility that any cash would be made available unless the district were to sell property–not just because the district’s reserves of around $6 million are limited, but because of restrictions on how the district may spend the money it has.
School Board’s Derek Barrs Glides Through Senate Committee Hearing’s Grandstanding Members Unscathed
Navigating a few ideologically choppy waters as senators dueled over deregulation and political interference, Flagler County School Board member Derek Barrs on Wednesday cleared the main hurdle to his presidential nomination to lead the Transportation Department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration as he appeared for a nomination hearing before the U.S. Senate Transportation Committee.
Flagler School Board’s Lauren Ramirez Challenges Ethics Commission’s Pending Restrictions on Her Private Business
Flagler County School Board member Lauren Ramirez is contesting a proposed finding by the Florida Ethics Commission that would severely restrict local public school students and employees from her business. Prohibiting local students from using her company’s services, she argued, would “have broad, unintended implications for public officials who own businesses unrelated to their elected duties and who operate in good faith under the assumption that members of the public, including students or parents, can choose where to spend their time and money.”
Flagler School Board May Soon Have an Open Seat Again as Derek Barrs Heads for Senate Confirmation Hearing
Derek Barrs’s days as a Flagler County School Board member may be numbered. Barrs’s confirmation hearing to be Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is scheduled for 10 a.m. July 16 before the Senate Transportation Committee. If he is confirmed, which appears likely, Barrs’s departure will require another gubernatorial appointment to the school board seat, with a year and four months left in that term before the 2026 election.
Education Foundation’s Take Stock in Children Mentee Alaria Krivoshey Joins Chiumento Law as Summer Intern
Chiumento Law announced today that Alaria Krivoshey, a Take Stock in Children mentee, has joined the firm as a summer intern. Alaria is mentored by Diane Vidal, a partner at Chiumento Law and the head of our Probate and Estate Planning department.
District Skeptical of Adding “Floater” to School Deputies’ Ranks and Increasing Contract with Sheriff 20%
The Flagler County School Board has few quibbles with a proposed 10 percent increase in its contract with the Sheriff’s Office for the 12 School Resource Deputies it pays for. The coming year’s budget is $1.52 million, compared to $1.377 million. The figures don’t include overtime costs. The board is more skeptical about a proposed addition to the contract: a 13th “floater” deputy who would increase the cost of the contract 20 percent, to $1.65 million, in a year when the district is getting no additional “Safe Schools” dollars from the legislature and is facing its own budget challenges.
Flagler Students Taking Vouchers for Private Education Double to 1,606 in One Year, Accelerating Drain from Public Schools
The number of Flagler County students taking public money for private, parochial or homeschool education doubled from last year to this year, from 884 to 1,606, according to the district’s latest calculations, far more than initially estimated. In spring, the district, based on state-provided figures, estimated that 1,236 students would draw on vouchers. The 1,606 students are draining $14.2 million in public education dollars from the district had they been attending traditional public schools.
Flagler Schools Again Fall Short of an A as Poor Gains Among Lowest Performers and 2 Schools’ Retreats Result in B
For the fourth straight year and the 11th of the last 12 years that the state has issued school grades, the Flagler County School District was rated B, despite a year of gains in almost every one of the district’s nine traditional school and in many categories. It just wasn’t enough. The district fell just two percentage points short of the needed 64 to rank an A, as it did last year, even though the threshold for an A was significantly lower than two years ago.
Flagler District’s New Hire Will Reflect Dual Allegiance to School Choice–and to District as ‘the Best Choice’
As the Flagler County school district is forced by a new state law to advocate for school choice–including vouchers, homeschooling and virtual schooling–against its own interests, the district is also learning to make the salesmanship work for itself: if there is to be true choice, the district must be included in the mix, and the message the district is disseminating is that it is “the best choice.”
Federal Appeals Court Endorses Florida Ban on Teachers’ Preferred Pronouns in Public Schools
A federal appeals court has ruled against a Florida teacher who challenged a state law forbidding transgender teachers from using their preferred pronouns during their official duties in the classroom. The case involves Katie Wood, a math teacher in Hillsborough County who is transgender. She sued the state after a 2023 law passed saying that employees of public schools may not identify to their students with pronouns not consistent with their birth sex, “an immutable biological trait.”
DeSantis Vetoes Bill That Would’ve Limited University Board Seats to Florida Residents
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday vetoed three bills, including a proposal that would have placed new restrictions on members of the state university system’s Board of Governors and university boards of trustees.
DeSantis Joins Other Southern States to Develop Anti-‘Woke’ University Accreditation System
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced, alongside State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues and university leaders from Texas and South Carolina, that the states are developing a Commission for Public Higher Education that will combat “woke” ideologies such as diversity, equity, and inclusion, and remake state higher education institutions to be more conservative.
Answering Appeal, Attorney General Says Brendan Depa’s Adult Sentence for Beating Teacher’s Aide Was Deserved
Answering the appeal of Brendant Depa’s conviction to five years in prison and 15 years on probation for assaulting his teacher’s aide at Matanzas High School in February 2023, the Attorney General’s Office in a 25-page brief argued that Circuit Judge Terence Perkins did not abuse his discretion when he imposed an adult sentence in Augsut 2024, as the defense argued in its appeal.
Flagler County Students Post Strong, Across-the-Board Improvements in All Grades and Disciplines, Boosting Superintendent
Flagler County students in all grades improved their scores year over year in English and math, in some cases markedly so, as well as in all other disciplines subject to standardized tests, according to figures released by the state Department of Education Wednesday. The results are a boon to Superintendent LaShakia Moore and her administration, reflecting the first testing cycle entirely on her watch since her appointment in September 2023.
‘We’re Not in a Great Shape,’ School Board’s Derek Barrs Warns as Vouchers Fuel Financial Crunch and Enrollment Drop
The Flagler County school district is caught in a feedback loop draining its budget as enrollment drops: more students are abandoning the district for private or homeschool education paid for with public money. That reduces the amount of state money the district can count on. More limited resources may encourage more students to leave, further reducing state dollars going to the district.
Ex-Teacher Union Leader Katie Hansen is Buddy Taylor’s New Principal, Mike Rinaldi Takes Over at Matanzas
Flagler County School Superintendent LaShakia Moore has named Katie Hansen the next principal of Buddy Taylor Middle School, following Cara Cronk’s retirement, and Mike Rinaldi the principal of Matanzas High School, following the resignation of Kristin Bozeman, who is moving to North Carolina with her family after three years leading the school.
Court Strikes Down Law Requiring Posting of 10 Commandments in Classrooms
The 5th U.S. Court of Appeals, often described as one of the most conservative courts in the nation, found the law unconstitutional because it violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which bars the government from endorsing a religion or creating laws that favor one religion over another.
Out-of-State Students May Face 10% Tuition Hikes at Florida Colleges and Universities This Fall, More Next Year
Out-of-state students attending Florida universities could see a 10 percent increase in tuition this fall and an additional hike the following school year, under a rule unanimously adopted by the state university system’s Board of Governors on Wednesday. Florida has the nation’s third-lowest tuition and fees for out-of-state students, at an average of $21,690 in 2023-2024. That was about 28 percent lower than the national average of $30,140.
Maga Servility Ends in Humiliation for Santa Ono and UF
The trustees liked Santa Ono; Ron DeSantis liked him, especially since Ono, who was once all-in on diversity at UM, recently pulled a 180, loudly recanting his climate change-admitting, student protest-allowing progressive ways and parroting the governor’s War on Woke nonsense like a DeSantis Bot. It wasn’t enough. Poor old weathervane Ono fell victim to a nasty social media campaign against him, led by such intellectual giants as Don Trump Jr., who squawked “WTF!” on the twixter; New College trustee Christopher “They’re eating the cats!” Rufo, Sen. Rick Scott and the congenitally absurd Rep. Byron Donalds.
Jim Guines, Mentor, Maverick and Force to Be Reckoned With on Flagler County School Board for 11 Years, Dies at 93
Jim Guines, the forceful, witty, always independent and at times unpredictable member of the Flagler County School Board for 11 years until 2007–the man many had known as Smokin’ Jim for his storied barbecue–died this morning (June 15) at 93 after battling many illnesses and what Lawrence Durrell called “the slow disgracing of the mind.”
Daytona State College Keeps Tuition and Fee Rates Flat for 15th Consecutive Year
Recognizing the need to keep college affordable for all students, Daytona State College is freezing tuition and associated fees for the upcoming 2025-26 academic year. This marks the 15th consecutive year of no increases in tuition and associated fee rates. The DSC District Board of Trustees approved the tuition freeze Thursday at its regular monthly meeting.
Per-Student Funding in Florida Will Increase Just 1.59%, Well Below Inflation
In a time when the Legislature is trying to pare back the size of the state budget, lawmakers agreed this week to pump more than $29 billion into K-12 education, a $945 million increase over current year spending.
Florida School Appeals to U.S. Supreme Court to Allow Christian Prayer Over Stadium Loudspeakers
Arguing the case “presents issues of utmost importance for religious liberty in this country,” a Tampa Christian school wants the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a years-long battle about whether the school should have been barred from offering a prayer over a stadium loudspeaker before a high-school football championship game.
AP, IB and AICE Face Sharp Cuts if Florida Senators Have Their Way
The Senate is warming to a new funding means for advanced courses allowing high school students to earn college credits. But the upper chamber has still only offered 70 percent of the funding calculated under a model in use for decades. A Senate PreK-12 Education Appropriations Committee offer Thursday provides $418 million in the form of a categorical grant to school districts. That’s more than $175 million less than the House wants to fund.
Led by Paul Renner, Board of Governors Rejects Ono’s Appointment as President of UF Over Past Views on DEI
After a coordinated campaign by conservatives attacking his “evolution” on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, a divided state university system Board of Governors on Tuesday blocked Santa Ono from becoming the University of Florida’s next president. Ono’s assurances didn’t convince some of his harshest critics on the board, including former state House Speaker Paul Renner, who posted a 22-page document titled “The Case Against Dr. Santa Ono” on social media after Tuesday’s meeting began.
John Thrasher, Who’d Represented Flagler County in the Senate and Led FSU, Dies at 81
Former Florida State University President and House Speaker John Thrasher, whose career in politics and public service spanned more than three decades, died Friday after a battle with cancer, his family announced. Thrasher, 81, served in the House and the Senate before being tapped in 2014 as president of FSU, where he had earned his bachelor’s and law degrees. He had represented Flagler County while in the Senate.
Ethics Opinion Recommends Restricting Flagler School Board’s Lauren Ramirez’s Business Activities in Schools
A proposed opinion by the staff attorney of the Florida Ethics Commission recommends restricting Flagler County School Board member Lauren Ramirez’s private-business activities in Flagler schools to unbranded and neutral volunteering. If ratified, the opinion would prohibit Ramirez from marketing her company on school grounds, recruiting students to her various programs, employing any school personnel either as company staffers or as volunteers, sponsoring any teams or events beyond unmarked donations, or using a district-wide communication tool to market her company’s fliers to students.
Maga’s Fearful War on Universities
Ron DeSantis has been trying for years to regulate speech in colleges and universities, impose restrictions on what teachers can teach in schools, and decree which books the state of Florida finds “acceptable.” DeSantis, nothing if not energetic in his rage, is now determined to shield our precious college students from Dangerous Thoughts. He’s the model for someone else in charge.
Indian Trails Middle School’s Brandy Nicole Anderson Is a Finalist for Florida Teacher of the Year
Today, the Florida Department of Education announced Brandy Nicole Anderson, a teacher at Indian Trails Middle School in Flagler County, as one of five finalists for the 2026 Florida Teacher of the Year. The state finalists were chosen from 76 district teachers of the year. The 2026 Florida Department of Education Teacher of the Year winner will be announced in July.
Florida University System Leaders Plead with Court To Restore Discriminatory Restrictions on Chinese Students
Saying Florida is trying to protect against “nefarious foreign-government influence,” higher-education leaders this week asked a federal appeals court to overturn a ruling that blocked part of a 2023 law restricting ties between state universities and colleges and China. The March 28 injunction ruling focused on the students, who are from China and say the law has prevented them from working as graduate teaching assistants, positions that carry stipends and other benefits.
Matanzas High School Celebrates Airy New $23 Million Project, Which May Be Last Needed Expansion in the District
A few months ahead of time, Matanzas High School on Tuesday marked a ceremonial opening of “the space that we have dreamed about and planned for for so long,” the naturally cheery Principal Kristin Bozeman told a crowd of a few dozen people who’d gathered for the occasion. They stood at the foot of the expanded Building 5, a 20,000 square foot addition. Projected student population declines this could be the last needed expansion in the district.
‘Minerals in Space’ Exhibit Launches at Stetson’s Gillespie Museum
A Stetson student, inspired by her grandfather’s work on the space shuttle program, has curated a new exhibit, “Minerals in Space: Building Blocks to the Stars,” on display at the university’s Gillespie Museum through the end of May. The free exhibit, created and curated by Stetson junior Mary DeNote, Class of 2027, explores the crucial role of minerals in the space program. It spans the story from the excitement of the 1960s Space Race to today’s cutting-edge exploration technologies.
Superintendent LaShakia Moore Is Taking on ‘School Choice’ on Her Terms: Stop Competing with Vouchers at a Disadvantage
Flagler County School Superintendent LaShakia Moore is all for school choice. Choice is good. Choice is necessary. But choice, to be authentic, must be fair. In Florida and in Flagler County, school choice isn’t a choice of equals. It forces public schools to compete at a vast disadvantage, while underwriting private and homeschooling. Students have been draining away from the district. Moore wants to take that on. “It will reflect who we are and how I lead. So we will take it on,” Moore says, as the district prepares a new strategy to project Flagler County’s public schools as still the best choice.
First New College. Now University of West Florida: President Resigns Ahead of DeSantis Reeducation Campaign
University of West Florida President Martha Saunders will resign months ahead of the expiration of her contract on Dec. 31, she announced Monday morning. She has served as president since 2017. The resignation came after Gov. Ron DeSantis made clear his intention to overhaul the Pensacola university as he did New College, including controversial trustee appointments and criticisms of university research and student activities.
Flagler Schools Face $2.5 Million Deficit as 400 Students Leave District for Private Vouchers in 3% Enrollment Decline
Private and homeschool vouchers are beginning to take a heavier toll on the Flagler County school district as enrollment is forecast to decline by 432 students by fall, a 3 percent decline, reducing the district’s funding by $2.5 million. That’s equivalent to 30 fewer teachers. Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore is concerned that the pattern may be unsustainable as the district analyzes needs and resources over the next three, four and five years and as the shift to vouchers accelerates.
Flagler County Middle Schoolers Qualify for International Competition for 2nd Year in a Row
BTMS seventh-grade students James Webb and Alexander Mangal turned their most recent performance into a berth into the International SeaPerch Competition being held at the University of Maryland on May 31 and June 1. Their second place finish at the Greater Jacksonville SeaPerch Regional Competition April 13 earned “Team Swift Sharks” one of the coveted spots. BTMS student Luke Chrzanowski will also be attending as an alternate.
If Approved, Religious Charter Schools Will Shift Yet More Money from Traditional Public Schools
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on April 30, 2025, in what could be the most consequential case for public education since the court started requiring schools to desegregate in the years following Brown v. Board of Education. If the court allows churches to operate religious charter schools, the public education system, as Americans know it, will take on an entirely new face and set of financial challenges.
University of Michigan President Santa Ono Is the Sole Finalist to Become President of the University of Florida
Santa Ono, who has led the University of Michigan since 2022, is the sole finalist to become president of the University of Florida, UF announced Sunday. A presidential-search committee recommended that the UF Board of Trustees approve Ono after a search that began last year following the abrupt resignation of former President Ben Sasse. Kent Fuchs, a former UF president, has served as interim president.
Religious Charter Schools’ Fate May Hinge on Justice Roberts
The Supreme Court on Wednesday was divided over a Catholic virtual charter school’s bid to become the country’s first religious charter school. With Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused from the case, the outcome appeared to hinge on the vote of Chief Justice John Roberts, who asked probing questions of both sides but did not make his position clear.
Students Will Be Banned from Using Cell Phones in Florida Elementary and Middle Schools
Florida lawmakers late Friday approved barring students in elementary and middle schools from using cell phones during the school day — and testing the idea in high schools. Current law prevents students from using cell phones during instructional time, but the change would expand that prohibition to throughout the school day in elementary and middle schools. Rep. Demi Busatta, a Coral Gables Republican who spearheaded the proposal, described it as “bell to bell.”
A Gutted Education Department Is Rolling Back Civil Rights and Targeting Transgender Students
The Education Department is being radically reshaped away from education, fairness and equity toward a more prosecutorial arm of the federal government as it negates civil rights investigations and ramps up investigations targeting transgender students and schools that apply more event-handed treatment of students and athletes. Civil rights offices are closed. Workers are fired. Investigating discrimination in schools is practically “impossible.”
Daytona State Rocket League Esports Team Wins NJCAAE Championship for DSC
Daytona State College’s No. 1 seed Rocket League Esports team claimed its second national championship Wednesday night, winning the 2025 NJCAAE Spring Premier Series National Title. The team defeated the No. 4 seed Columbia Basin College Hawks 3-0 in the Grand Finals matchup.
Florida House Backs Off Later School Start Times
The Florida House on Tuesday gave final approval to a bill that would back away from a requirement aimed at starting high-school classes later in the morning. The Legislature in 2023 passed a law that would prevent high schools from starting earlier than 8:30 a.m. to help teens get more sleep.
Florida Will Use Tax Dollars to Sue Its Own Public Schools on Behalf of Parents
Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office is “putting our money where our mouth is” in announcing a state-funded legal team dedicated to enforcing parents-rights laws. Addressing a crowd of fourth graders at Jacksonville Classical Academy Tuesday, Uthmeier said his office is “making sure that we’re walking the walk and setting examples” in enforcing laws related to gender transition, library materials, school surveys, and other topics that have dominated legislative, judicial, and executive conversations in recent years.