Twitter![Senate President Joe Negron shakes hands with Sen. Bill Galvano during the first day of the 2017 legislative session. The two senators are leading supporters of a 2018 bill that boosts higher education, including restoring the Bright Futures scholarship to its original levels. [SCOTT KEELER | Times]](http://www.tampabay.com/storyimage/HI/20180112/ARTICLE/301129761/AR/0/AR-301129761.jpg?MaxW=2000 "Senate President Joe Negron shakes hands with Sen. Bill Galvano during the first day of the 2017 legislative session. The two senators are leading supporters of a 2018 bill that boosts higher education, including restoring the Bright Futures scholarship to its original levels. [SCOTT KEELER | Times]")
![Senate President Joe Negron shakes hands with Sen. Bill Galvano during the first day of the 2017 legislative session. The two senators are leading supporters of a 2018 bill that boosts higher education, including restoring the Bright Futures scholarship to its original levels. [SCOTT KEELER | Times]](http://www.tampabay.com/storyimage/HI/20180112/ARTICLE/301129761/AR/0/AR-301129761.jpg&MaxW=600&imageVersion=Rotator)
BRIGHT FUTURES: Making good on its top priority, the Florida Senate quickly and unanimously approves a bill to make sweeping changes to the state's higher education system. Among the provisions is a plan to expand the Bright Futures scholarship. The legislation next heads to the House.
SCHOOL REPAIRS: Parents at Lee Elementary, the Tampa school gutted by fire in the fall, express frustration at the slow pace of restoring the building and the lack of communication about the work.
REZONING: Pasco superintendent Kurt Browning announces students will not have to change schools mid-year after a judge voids the district's recent west-side attendance boundary changes. But he warns another rezoning is likely.
SUPERINTENDENTS: Facing criticism for getting a raise while teachers battle for salaries in negotiations, Brevard County superintendent Desmond Blackburn says he will donate his added pay to charity, Florida Today reports.
FINANCES: An auditor says the Manatee County school district's financial management is improving, but not yet where it should be, the Herald-Tribune reports.
NEW SCHOOLS: The Manatee County school district plans to build a new school to ease crowding, but doesn't plan to make it an enhanced hurricane shelter, the Bradenton Herald reports.
LABOR NEWS: The Marion County School Board approves $5.4 million in added employee compensation, the Ocala Star-Banner reports.
CHARTER SCHOOLS: The Flagler County School Board considers sharing some of its supplemental state funding with its local charter schools, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.
BAD ACTS: A Citrus County teacher is suspended after her arrest on accusations of selling marijuana from her home, the Citrus County Chronicle reports.