Marlene Sokol

The ruling clears the way for voters to see a school tax referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot.

In some area schools, as many as half the students are just learning English.

Mailers about the nonpartisan race labeled Erika Picard a Republican. Her opponent says that’s against state law.

It’s on in the battle over whether a property tax referendum for schools will make it onto the November ballot.

Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties will all open new campuses when school starts Monday.

School advocates implored the board to let the referendum for teacher pay go forward in November. Now it will be up to an appeals court.

The County Commission had delayed the measure to 2026 and is now ordered to move it to the November ballot.

The Hillsborough County School Board approved Emma Morgan to lead the school on Thursday.

County commissioners who delayed a referendum to pay for teachers just learned there will be no hearing and a swift ruling.

A judge will decide if the county commission must reverse its decision to postpone a planned tax referendum.

All three leaders are longtime district employees with experience in high-needs schools.

Hillsborough County Schools on Tuesday joined other districts in adopting a cell phone policy aimed at minimizing distractions and disruptions from digital devices on campus.The detailed policy generally requires phones to be stashed away and placed on silent in the younger school years, and used only during lunch and passing periods in the older grades. Teachers can make exceptions when they wish to use phones during instruction. There are also exceptions for students who use their smart phones…

It was supposed to be an unremarkable morning. Hillsborough Schools Superintendent Van Ayres would sit quietly in the audience as the County Commission placed two tax referendums on the November ballot.“A pass-through,” Ayres would later call it.They had expected the county commission to bless two measures: First, a renewal of the community investment sales tax for capital spending; then the school district’s proposed property tax to boost employee pay. They voted 6-0 to move their sales tax alo…

In August, Superintendent Van Ayres will welcome more than 200,000 students back to Hillsborough County schools.He faces uncertainty over enrollment levels due to school choice and fallout from last year’s school boundary changes. State leaders have yet to determine the formula they will use to award school grades — a sore spot in Hillsborough, which led the state last year with 33 D and F schools. And voters will decide in November on a property tax that would allow the district to offer higher…

Wharton High and Pasco and Centennial elementary schools will have new leaders come fall.

The Hillsborough County teachers union has reached a tentative and unusually early pay agreement with the school district, as the two organizations look ahead to a November tax referendum that could generate more money.In prior years, negotiations between the district and the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association lasted well into the school year, and sometimes past the winter holidays. It is almost unheard of for the two sides to settle before the school year begins.The agreement announced…

TAMPA — For supporters of a real estate tax to boost teacher pay in Hillsborough County, Friday’s Tiger Bay Club forum was a chance to fine-tune talking points.Panelists described South Hillsborough teachers who commute to Manatee and Sarasota counties for higher pay. They described students who are not prepared for Advanced Placement exams because their teachers quit midyear.But guests who came to hear a robust debate on a question that will be on the November ballot were disappointed. There we…

A flurry of activity this week left two Hillsborough County School Board contests with smaller fields and one with three new candidates.The newcomers include a pastor who has run for office before and a business owner who has served on the school board in the past.Two longtime educators, meanwhile, took themselves out of the running in another district.Ultimately, the seven-member board will oversee a district that faces fierce competition from the charter school sector; and is recovering from a…

Bruhat Soma, a rising eighth grader at Turner/Bartels K-8 School in New Tampa, took first place in the century-old Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday in Washington, D.C., after a rare spell off.Bruhat, 12, smiled broadly when his name was announced, showered with confetti and handed a multicolored trophy.“I’m really excited,” he said before his family joined him onstage. “It’s been my goal ... and I’ve been working really hard. Now I can’t describe it, I’m still shaking.”To reach the timed “…

With the candidate qualifying deadline fast approaching, a school board contest in Hillsborough County progressed this month from low simmer to rapid boil.Bonnie Lambert — a career educator with moderate views on issues such as spending and library books — is challenging District 3 incumbent Jessica Vaughn, whose positions are more progressive.Lambert and Vaughn are Democrats. Their party has a slender board majority, even though the seats are officially nonpartisan.But instead of congeniality i…