Florida's new education commissioner praised Hillsborough County Schools' leadership on Wednesday, Aug. 5, in what board member Nadia Combs called the first time in her six years she had seen a state education chief visit a district school.

Commissioner Henry Mack, three days into the job, sat between Superintendent Van Ayres and Combs at Lamb Elementary School's back-to-school news conference and pledged to "remove barriers, to uplift lives, to support faculty members, support your staff, support the families and students that we know we need to help."

For families at Lennard High School, East Bay High and Apollo Beach K-8, the visit caps a year of measurable gains. Apollo Beach K-8 maintained its A grade and added 126 points, ranking among the district's top-improving K-8 schools. Lennard High gained 53 points and held its B, placing among the top five high schools for improvement. District-wide, Hillsborough earned its first A grade in more than a decade, announced July 1, and posted a record 71% AP exam pass rate, up from 53% in 2022.

The tone was a sharp departure from last year. At the 2025 back-to-school news conference, Ayres was under fire after then-Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas had criticized the district on social media over a transgender memoir in its libraries. State Board of Education member Layla Collins also called out Combs and former board chair Jessica Vaughn online. That summer, Kamoutsas continued pressuring Ayres publicly until the superintendent removed the book on Aug. 8, 2025, after initial pushback, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

Mack struck a different note on the book issue. He told reporters it was less a "culture war" matter and more about "age and developmentally appropriate" access to materials.

Before becoming commissioner, Mack served as a senior chancellor for Florida's college system overseeing workforce education and as an assistant labor secretary appointed by President Donald Trump. He said he wants to break down barriers between employers and schools "to provide economic opportunity and mobility for everyone, no matter the ZIP code, no matter the race, no matter the socioeconomic status."

The Tampa Bay Times first reported on the visit. Combs told the Times it was unprecedented for a sitting commissioner to appear at a Hillsborough campus.

The 2026-27 school year for students at Lennard High, East Bay High and Apollo Beach K-8 begins Monday, Aug. 10.