Mater Academy Inc., a Miami-based charter school operator, has submitted notices to occupy three Sarasota County public school campuses, marking a sharp local escalation of the state’s newly expanded “Schools of Hope” law, which allows charters to take over public school facilities.The notices, submitted early Wednesday, target Brookside Middle, Emma E. Booker Elementary and Oak Park School, a K-12 campus that serves students with disabilities. They are among similar notices sent to school districts statewide this week, according to Sarasota County Schools officials.

This year, Books for Collier Kids is celebrating both its 20th anniversary and the delivery of its two-millionth book.

The School District of Lee County and the Support Personnel Association of Lee County have reached a comprehensive tentative agreement on contract modifications and compensation updates after negotiations.

A U.S. district judge Wednesday said a 2023 Florida law restricting pronouns that transgender teachers can use to identify themselves violates a federal civil-rights law — but the outcome of the issue might ultimately hinge on an appeals-court ruling in a Georgia case.U.S. District Judge Mark Walker sided with Hillsborough County teacher Katie Wood and a Lee County teacher, identified as Jane Doe, in finding that the state law discriminates in violation of what is known as Section VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That section bars employment discrimination because of a person’s “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”

Siding with publishers and authors, a federal judge Wednesday ruled that a key part of a 2023 Florida law that has led to books being removed from school library shelves is “overbroad and unconstitutional.”U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza issued a 50-page decision in a First Amendment lawsuit filed last year against members of the State Board of Education and the school boards in Orange and Volusia counties. He focused primarily on part of the law that seeks to prevent the availability of reading material that “describes sexual conduct.”

A federal judge last week approved ending a Hendry County school-desegregation lawsuit that started in 1970, after the U.S. Department of Justice and the district agreed that “vestiges of the prior de jure segregation” had been eliminated.

The 2025-26 school year opens today for most of Southwest and South Florida. A few changes are in store for students, parents, and those driving in and around schools and school buses.

District officials said every classroom will begin the new school year with a certified teacher at the helm.

Some southwest Florida schools will provide free breakfast and lunch to students by way of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Community Eligibility Provision. The program applies to schools and counties with at least 25 percent of students already eligible for free meals, based on their household income. Schools and counties can opt in individually.