Today's news

PINELLAS AT CROSSROADS: Superintendent Clayton Wilcox resigns as the district embarks upon new attendance zones and a variety of other initiatives. A major challenge for the next superintendent will be to improve teacher morale. Readers have been commenting about the resignation all night. Want to join in? Click here. (Times photo, 2007)

SHOW THEM THE MONEY: The Pasco School Board voted to terminate its employee 401(k) plan in favor of other retirement investment plans. But when employees went to roll over their accounts, as instructed by the district, the plan administrator said, Not so fast.

KIDS COME FIRST: At least they should. But it looks like fatcats are the top priority in Tallahassee as lawmakers make budget decisions that hurt schools more than business, the Times editorializes.

SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT: Students at Weinbaum Yeshiva High in Boca Raton try giving up gossip, trash talk and innuendo, and discover they can have meaningful conversations about other subjects, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

WHAT ARE THE ODDS? Some school lobbyists review key legislation that could affect Florida kids with the Florida Times-Union.

SALARY FIGHT GOES ON (AND ON) IN COLLIER: Despite a threat by the Teamsters to step in, hearings on teacher pay in Collier will proceed as planned, the Naples Daily News reports. The sides have been fighting over the district's 1 percent bonus offer all year.

EVOLUTION BILL NEARS APPROVAL: The Florida Senate debates a version of the "academic freedom" legislation that differs significantly from the House proposal, with some tense moments and an effort to include sex education in the bill, the Miami Herald reports.

HOMEBUILDERS SUE ORANGE SCHOOLS: The group says the district is "misappropriating" sales tax revenue by not using it to pay for new school construction, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

SHUT OUT: Many families were lured to the new Tradition community in St. Lucie with promise of a cutting edge new school. Now they're finding that their kids can't get in, and they're not happy, the Palm Beach Post reports.

UF NEWS: The Gainesville Sun reports on a controversy over the admission of a politically connected but apparently unqualified student to the School of Medicine, and also about plans to change the rules for how professors can earn royalties on books they've written that are assigned to their students.