Florida students scored significantly worse on national reading tests taken last year than in 2022, mirroring a continuing national decline since the COVID-19 pandemic, data released Wednesday morning shows.

It’s been almost five years since schools were closed down and students needed to do online learning during the pandemic. Now there is a post-COVID-19 report card for student performance nationwide and in the Sunshine State.

Florida’s reading and math scores have dropped to their lowest levels in two decades, reflecting ongoing struggles in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After a year of debate, the Broward County school board adopted superintendent Howard Hepburn's proposal to close or convert under-enrolled schools. The Broward District has seen its enrollment decline by 6.6% since the pandemic, according to federal data. [ PEDRO PORTAL | El Nuevo Herald ]

The nuanced finding suggests the agency believes the totality of evidence makes a lab origin more likely than a natural origin.

USF public health professor Donna Petersen says collaboration was critical in helping community leaders respond to the pandemic. In hindsight, she says interventions like shutdowns were in place too long.

U.S. prosecutors are charging former state Rep. Carolina Amesty with stealing from the federal government’s COVID-19 relief funds, the latest humiliating turn in the career of a woman once viewed as a rising star in the Florida GOP.

Former state Rep. Carolina Amesty is accused of fraudulent activity involving COVID-19 relief funds, according to federal complaint filed on Thursday

In last year’s edition of EnforceMintz, we predicted that 2024 would bring an increase in False Claims Act (FCA) enforcement activity related

The big story: Florida has five of the nation’s 10 ... districts have seen their enrollments decrease since the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine of the top 10 districts experienced dips, some as high ...