The School District of Lee County released the first look at the preliminary designs for a renovated and remodeled Bonita Springs Elementary School on Friday. The project is scheduled to start in summer 2025 and finish before the start of school in August 2027.

Senate President Ben Albritton on Monday suggested phasing out a decade-old law that allows some undocumented immigrant students, known as “dreamers,” to receive in-state tuition rates at Florida universities and colleges.Albritton addressed the issue during a media availability, after Sen. Randy Fine, R-Brevard County, this month filed a bill (SB 90) that would repeal the law. Albritton suggested a gradual approach that would take into account students who already receive the tuition benefit or who are making plans to attend colleges or universities at the cheaper in-state rates.While he did not propose a timeline for phasing out the law, Albritton suggested putting a “sunset” on it — a legislative term that usually involves setting a future date to end a law or program.

Some of the nation’s largest book publishers joined authors and parents of high school students in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday challenging a 2023 law that increased scrutiny of school library books, arguing that the law unconstitutionally violates speech rights. Penguin Random House LLC; Hachette Book Group, Inc.; HarperCollins Publishers LLC; Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC; Simon & Schuster, LLC; and Sourcebooks LLC alleged in the lawsuit that their books “have been targeted for removal or removed from school libraries” throughout the state following last year’s passage of the law (HB 1069).

Saying it opposes “any form of academic censorship,” the United Faculty of Florida on Monday objected to a directive issued this month by university system Chancellor Ray Rodrigues about reviewing textbooks and other materials for “antisemitic material” or “anti-Israeli” bias.

the Law at the Library program, courtesy of Lee County Legal Aid, aims to remove that barrier free of charge. The scope of issues that attorneys in the Lee County Legal Aid's Law at the Library program handle ranges from housing to immigration. Disaster relief and contractor fraud are focused on during the sessions, but attorneys are equipped to help with anything.

The Big Backpack Event began with the idea that not all Southwest Florida children had the supplies they needed to get a good education.Twenty-five years later, that's still the idea.That need could be seen Sunday in Fort Myers. Again, as has been the case at every Big Backpack Event, a line of those needing school supplies snaked around the distribution area.

A Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday in Florida began Monday and run for two weeks, ending on Sunday, August 11.The third such tax holiday this year will help families to save money on items students need for the new school year.

Recently, school officials, teachers and volunteers gathered at Franklin Park Elementary School to help put together that new furniture, stock library shelves and prepare for the children who will flock here in less than three weeks.

The Lee County Tax Collector is hosting a back-to-school supply drive for teachers benefitting the Foundation for Lee County Public Schools.

Three area residents -- Kae Moore, Sean Kempton and Jamie Merchant -- have been named to the Early Learning Coalition of Southwest Florida by Gov. DeSantis.