SPARE US: Pinellas school guidance counselors and media specialists urge the School Board not to eliminate their jobs in budget cuts for 2011-12. (Times photo, Jim Damaske)  

NO CELEBRATIONS: Pasco school employees and district officials say their status quo contract agreement is the best they could do.

16 DAYS AND COUNTING: Ridgewood High School seniors look forward to graduation and beyond.

EXTRA TRAINING: St. Petersburg College announces its new "Learn to Earn" courses to help workers get added skills.

SCHOOL REUSE: A local group seeks to lease the former Southside Fundamental Middle School for a new Pinellas charter school.

TOP OF THE CLASS: Zephyrhills High and Mitchell High valedictorian and salutatorian

ONE MORE TEST: Thousands of Florida high school students take a standardized algebra test that counts for nothing, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

THE FLORIDA FORMULA: Jeb Bush emerges as an education adviser to several governors, the NY Times reports.

STUDENT PROTEST: Dozens of students from Duval's Raines High march against plans to restructure their school, the Florida Times-Union reports.

BUDGET CUTS: Broward school officials look at small ticket items as well as big ones to balance their budget, the Miami Herald reports. • Indian River officials spare arts and music classes by suspending Title I performance pay, the Vero Beach Press-Journal reports. • Polk School Board members consider cutting their own salaries, the Lakeland Ledger reports. • The Monroe teachers union suggests reopening its contract to find ways to save money, the Keynoter reports. 

HIRING SPREE: Collier schools seek 500 new teachers, the Naples Daily News reports.

LEADERSHIP CHANGES: Edison State College will see its top administrators shift amid faculty discontent, the Naples Daily News reports.

FIGHTING BACK: A Lee principal battles to save his job, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.