Then there is the matter of all that money, all those educator observations (more than 40,000 last year) and the treasure trove of data now in the district's possession. Jose Colindres, who runs a foundation for poor and minority students, wanted to know when that data might be made public for parents.

The answer from Elia: The district needs to make sure it doesn't violate a law that protects teacher evaluations the first year.

"We're still analyzing it," she said.

Behind last week's release of the latest school grades was unflattering news for the Pinellas and Hillsborough districts: a drop in rank among other Florida school systems.

Hillsborough fell from No. 24 to No. 38 among the state's 67 districts this year while Pinellas is No. 49, down from No. 40. Among the 12 biggest districts Hillsborough is now ninth and Pinellas is 10th.

Hillsborough's district grade also dipped — from an A to a B — while Pinellas held on to a B for an eighth straight year despite coming as close as it ever has to a C.

TAMPA — They are the largest minority group in the Hillsborough schools.

They are descendants of Cuban settlers, children of South American construction workers and farm laborers in Ruskin and Plant City.

And, on average, their Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores need help.

An analysis by The St. Petersburg Times shows Hillsborough Hispanic students are scoring worse than their counterparts across the state. By one measure, that gap has been widening for a decade.

Jose Colindres, chief operating officer of a social service agency in Westchase, told the board Tuesday he supported that goal. But he was taken aback by the lack of detail in the agenda item, which didn't indicate just how much "above $50,000" the plan would actually cost.

Representatives from more than 20 organizations gathered at a community forum recently to talk about their funding concerns. The Brink Foundation, a family foundation that focuses on children and low-income families, hosted the event along with the Children's Board of Hillsborough County and Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church.

Mar. 18--TOWN 'N COUNTRY -- Children near Hanley Road start their schooling at Town 'N Country Elementary, which last year received an A from the state.

The school feeds into its neighbor, Webb Middle, which got a C. And those students eventually enter Leto High School, which was graded a D.

TAMPA - Like thousands of other teens, Christopher Brink learned firsthand about the needs of Metropolitan Ministries by volunteering there.

Student advocates have criticized the tuition increases universities already have made. Higher costs on top of scholarship cuts are going to make it tougher for lower-income students in particular to pursue a college degree, said Jose Colindres, chief operating officer for the Brink Foundation, a charity group dedicated to poor and minority communities near Tampa.