Jenna Barbee, a teacher at Winding Waters K-8, alleged earlier this month that Hernando County School Board member Shannon Rodriguez reported her to the Florida Department of Education for showing her students the 2022 movie "Strange World" – one of the first Disney films to have an openly LGBTQ+ character in a central role.

The budget will fund 2% pay increases for K-12 teachers, a minimum pay scale for school support staff, and a $1,000 bonus for special education teachers. It will also fund 100 additional teachers in the middle grades and big pay raises for school nurses.

Faced with rising enrollment, our rural district reconfigured electives as career and technical education pathways that put students on track for jobs in lucrative fields like computer science.

As layoffs and budget cuts continue to plague America's school districts, teachers ultimately have the final say on whether they want to continue in the profession. Here's what they'd like to see improve.