Kindergartners at Apollo Beach K-8 Center will swap daily sessions on i-Ready and Amira, the reading and math software many local students use each morning, for printed books and hands-on literacy activities when the 2026-27 school year begins in August. Students at Lennard High will sit for fewer semester exams. And every PreK through eighth-grade student in the district will get a free field trip.

Hillsborough County Public Schools announced the three policy changes in a district-wide notice published Tuesday, July 15. The moves come after HCPS earned its first A grade from the Florida Department of Education since 2014, a milestone Superintendent Van Ayres called a reflection of "the extraordinary dedication of our students, teachers, support professionals, school leaders, and families" in a July 1 statement.

Here's what each change means locally.

Screen time cuts for K-2

Programs like i-Ready, Amira and Imagine Learning will no longer be part of daily classroom instruction in grades K-2, according to the district announcement. In their place, students will spend more time reading printed books, writing, discussing ideas and working through activities that build foundational reading and math skills with direct teacher interaction.

The district said the shift is based on research supporting hands-on learning for young children. Apollo Beach K-8 Center, which maintained its A grade and gained 126 points in the 2025-26 school year, is among the schools affected.

Free field trips for PreK-8

Every student in PreK through eighth grade will participate in one grade-level field trip at no cost to families or schools. The program is funded by the millage referendum Hillsborough County voters approved in November 2024, which generates approximately $177 million annually for the district.

HCPS is dedicating $1.9 million from that referendum to cover admission and transportation for roughly 135,000 students, according to district millage documents. Specific destinations and grade-level pairings have not been released.

82 semester exams eliminated

Middle and high school students, including those at Lennard High, will no longer take 82 semester exams the district described as redundant. Students will still take assessments teachers use to monitor progress, but with fewer tests cutting into instructional time.

A full list of affected courses is available on the HCPS website. Lennard High maintained a B grade in 2025-26, gaining 53 points and ranking among the district's top five high schools for improvement.

What's next

Project LINK's Back-to-School Health Clinic comes to Ruskin on Saturday, July 18, starting at 8 a.m. at 2342 E. Shell Point Road. The clinic offers school physicals, routine immunizations and Florida Form DH 680 certificates for children ages 5 to 17 who are uninsured or on Medicaid. Appointments are required at www.b2shc.org or through the Back2School Clinic Scheduler app; there is a one-time $10 registration fee per family.

Florida's Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday runs Monday, July 20, through Thursday, Aug. 20.