Today's news

THEY SAID 'NO PHONES': Despite warnings posted everywhere, 27 Hernando students still brought cell phones into the FCAT testing room. Their tests have been invalidated.

ALONE AT THE BUS STOP: Tampa kindergartner Jamal Ashley was left at the wrong bus stop by a substitute driver. He got picked up by a stranger who, luckily, helped the boy home. District officials are investigating. (Times photo, Chris Zuppa)

BREAKING A TRADITION: Hillsborough school officials don't have high hopes that their employees will come to work on Good Friday, a holiday the district has observed for the past several years. So they're making plans on how to operate as if 20 percent of the staff will be absent.

TAXING QUESTIONS: Leaders of Florida's education associations raise concerns about provisions in the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission's tax cutting proposal that would change the way schools get funded.

FUND IT OR FORGET IT: Supporters of a USF campus in Lakeland urge Gov. Charlie Crist, who vetoed the idea a year ago, to support it this time, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Otherwise, the landowner is likely to bail out on the deal for where the campus is supposed to go.

REASSIGNED: The Palm Beach middle school principal accused of falsifying her attendance records to get extra teachers is removed from her position pending an investigation, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

BANNING BULLYING: An anti-bullying bill wins unanimous support in the Senate committee where it foundered a year ago, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. More from the Palm Beach Post.

OVERRULE THE RULING: Collier teachers will ask their School Board to reject a special magistrate's decision upholding the district's pay package, which the teachers oppose, the Naples Daily News reports.

NOT A MANDATE ANYMORE: Senators amended a bill that would have required all middle school students to take a semester of physical education, making the mandate an elective. Band booster parents pressed for the changes, the Palm Beach Post reports.

FSU PROFS SEEK GREENER PASTURES: Several FSU professors are leaving, many because of budget cuts, and there's no plan to replace them soon as the university works its way through tough financial times, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

STOP THE 'VOUCHER SCHEME': The state's corporate income tax credit scholarship program doesn't do much for education except stir controversy and pull money away from already strapped public schools. Lawmakers should end the program, not expand it, the Daytona Beach News-Journal editorializes.

FIGHTING FOR THE SCHOOL: The former principal of the Liberty City Charter School is challenging the Miami-Dade School Board's decision to cancel the school's contract, the Miami Herald reports.

GO AHEAD AND TASE: The UF police department would be allowed to keep on using Tasers under a policy that's headed to the university president for approval, the Gainesville Sun reports.