MELBOURNE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis is holding a news conference Thursday in Melbourne, at which time he announced that this year’s Junior Olympics will be held over the summer in Brevard County.
Brevard County will also be hosting the AAU Sunshine State Games.
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The games will be held at various schools throughout the county in late July through the first week of August.
According to DeSantis, Florida last hosted the Junior Olympics in 2000.
He said he was “excited that this opportunity kind of fell into our lap,” after it was pulled from being hosted in Virginia, and said the Junior Olympics would have a significant economic impact to the state and bring the community together.
The governor also touched on education, saying distance learning, which has been going on across the state since mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, has been among the most effective in the country.
He said the state will now put aside millions of dollars to better the state’s educational system as students return to campuses, including $64 million for achievement gaps, including a summer program for students in kindergarten through fifth grade who need help with their reading proficiency.
The governor said the state’s goal is to have 90 percent of students proficient in reading by 2024.
DeSantis also announced that students who are graduating next spring will be able to take the ACT and SAT for free.
He said he would like to see schools reopen, but will be leaving that decision to be made at the local level.