Today's news

'WE SEE IT, WE TAKE IT': That's Hillsborough's new slogan for cell phones and electronic devices in the schools. Parents have already begun complaining.

PLEASE PICK ME: Students audition to prove they have what it takes to be accepted to Hernando's new gifted center. (Times photo, Will Vragovic)

ELECTION NEWS: Pinellas District 4 candidates differ on the issues.

SIT TIGHT: The Hillsborough School Board imposes a travel moratorium on itself while it works out rules and a budget for such expenses. Some members have spent a lot more on travel than others.

THEY WILL APPEAL: Manatee officials plan to challenge the grades of nearly half the district's schools, contending the FDOE erred in its calculations, the Bradenton Herald reports.

NO REST: Students in Lee County's IB program keep doing their school work through the summer, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

CHECK THE MAP: A Miami-Dade school district lawyer is placed on leave during a hearing about how she took $15,000 from the district to move to Miami-Dade County but lives in Palm Beach, the Miami Herald reports.

WE'RE BIG: Florida has 14 of the nation's 100 largest school districts in the latest rankings, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

WHERE IN THE WORLD? Escambia equips its school buses with GPS systems, a move critics call a waste of money during tight budget times, the Pensacola News-Journal reports.

LOOKING FOR BIG BUCKS: FAMU officials plan to jump-start its fund-raising efforts now that its most major problems are in the past, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

BUDGET ROUNDUP: Miami-Dade looks to cutting jobs and programs to reduce spending, moves some board members say will gut all but the most basic education, the Miami Herald reports. A special magistrate sides with the Manatee district in imposing pay cuts for teachers, the Herald-Tribune reports. Brevard decides to charge students $2 a day if they want to receive "courtesy busing," Florida Today reports.