Biden administration says Florida’s teacher bonus plan may violate COVID-19 relief money rules

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida’s plan to use federal COVID-19 relief money to give classroom teachers and school principals $1,000 bonuses may have hit a snag. The U.S. Department of Education, in a letter this week, told Florida education leaders their bonus plan looks likely to conflict with federal requirements that the money help address student “learning loss” brought on by the pandemic. That could derail the state’s effort to spend nearly $216 million on bonuses for about 180,000 teachers and about 3,600 principals. The problem, first reported by Politico Florida, was detailed in a letter the f...